Do you work at AE? A lateral move from there would be risky, IMO. The regionals change almost daily, and todays 18 month upgrade is tomorrows 7+yr upgrade. From what I hear, AE is not a bad place to work, and the upgrade time is starting to come down. Stick it out, unless you are looking to improve your QOL, chasing upgrade is generally a bad idea. Just my 2 cents....