you will most likely never upgrade at a regional airline. Being upgraded when you are at the bottom of the list takes hiring pilots below you to make you near 50% of the seniority list. Yes, many will soon be leaving at the top of the seniority lists but you need to hire below you for the upgrade. Do the math, how many pilots would have to be hired to put you in the left seat at the regionals you have talked about going to?? At republic, you would need 1000-1500 below you....You think they can hire that many in 1,3,5,7 years? Not at the rate they are going today. Commute air and Trans are maybe a better bet cuz about 120 new hires at each would put you in the 50%, but being that small, will they be around in a few years?

a few years ago your question would get a valid answer but in this environment where regionals can't fill their classes, its going to be hard to move people to the left seat that aren't already a good ways up the seniority list at a given airline.

My guess is don't worry about left seat time, you won't need it to move on a major in 5 years