I can't agree more with all these statements, I was fortunate to get on with a regional at a young age and chased the upgrade and although had a blast working for skw my QOL tanked because I was always commuting, but 7 years later it paid off. So if you can get all that stuff out of the way early you can enjoy 35 yrs of a great QOL at a major. This was the first time in 7 yrs I had thanksgiving, xmas, and New Years off all cause I was in training. If your going to do this career, seniority is everything, so don't waste too much time because one number could mean the difference of 18 days off or 11.