My point was that the pay doesn't tell the whole story. And I never said don't apply to DAL or CAL or where ever (although CAL's work rules and pay are disgusting). VA or any other airline may have great hourly pay but horrible work rules. At which point its a wash and you may even lose a little depending on what you value your time at. And who knows what that is going to be like at these places like VA and SkyBus. My point was that VA can't have or keep industry leading pay with the type of operation they are proposing without something else going on (horrible work rules, making crews pay for the hotels, etc). So you can make all you want out of hourly rates but it doesn't mean jack if your flight cancels and you have no cancellation pay (pretty sure 0 hours at $95/hr comes out to...$0! ) or you gotta shell out for a hotel room at the overnight. And what good is money if you can't spend any of it or your time with your friends and family because your airline is not required to give you your days off in your domicile?

It sounds like our guy who started the thread is at least mid 30s-40s just based on his experience. If I was in that position I think the better option would be to get on with a good regional, accrue seniority quickly so you can get those 18 and 19 day off lines, still make $95-115K flying and do something else I enjoy on the side (there are, in fact, other ways to make money besides flying). And be able to spend those days off at home with friends and family or travelling or whatever else I wanted to do, not sitting alone in a hotel room in a strange city.

I guess the whole point we ALL are trying to make is choose wisely. In this current hiring environment and with those qualifications there are many many options besides GoJets and crappy upstarts.