Originally Posted by
Captain Tony
Oh wise L-XJT ERJ FO, please enlighten us more with your extensive knowledge of the ASA CRJ side you don't fly for...
On the L-ASA side, yes, the CRJ 200 sucks. Small boring towns within 700 miles of a base. 5+ legs a day typical. Unbearable heat in summer, no heat in winter. You'll want to kill yourself after the third straight AEX overnight in a LaQuinta at an interstate exit with nothing but a gas station, a BBQ, and a cracker barrel for entertainment.
The 700/900 is a lot better. Long flights, less legs, medium-large cities, international flying. Much better plane to operate too.
ATL is currently running ~3+ years on reserve for 700/900 FOs and ~12 years for CAs. The ATL 200 is a little less, but they begin steadily going away after this year, so that's going to go up as people hang on to the end of the rope to stay in base. Upgrade in the most junior base is still 8+ years. Expect that to go up if CRJ 200s retire and no replacement aircraft come. It's still debatable is CA attrition will prevent downgrades to FO. Most of the people leaving are junior.
To each their own. If I have to do over a 2 hour leg, I almost want to shoot myself. Doing 11 minute flights is up my corner. The 200 is slowly turning into the ATR group again. Just have a couple more debbie downers to get rid of.
As for those exciting NYC overnights, then being on the tarmac for 2 hours waiting for your wheels up... you can have that. Each person has their own preferences. Just like our bidding system.