If you look at any regional beyond 5-10 years the future is dicey at best. This is a very unstable business due to the nature of contract flying. Today's quick upgrade is tomorrow's displacement when another flavor of the month underbids your contract. Get your time and move on. People have been predicting the demise of TSA for years and it is still here. We were in training and the Gojet guys were laughing at us because we would never upgrade. Now TSA guys are upgrading in a year and a half and the Gojet guys that were laughing are stuck in the right seat for a while.

As I said earlier, one hundred percent, leg by leg cancellation pay is critical. Not a line guarantee, that is completely different. The cancellations under part 117 will pull you down to guarantee without it, particularly in the winter. I averaged 120 hours a month last winter with cancellation pay. Without it I would have been on guarantee for January, February, and March, and would barely have made 80 hours in April. Granted I'm a greedy sob and I pick up flying all the time. That is $1500 a month for Jan, Feb, and March. Its pretty easy to see how you will exceed the 5 or 10 thousand dollar bonus pretty quick in your first couple of years for taking a job at a carrier with no cancellation pay.

Best of luck