Originally Posted by
hockeypilot44
Took me 3 1/2 years. Already had a degree. That's probably about average as I went through with very little mainline hiring. It's probably faster now that everyone's hiring.
Haha are you trolling? You can't even get off reserve as an FO at most regionals by 3 1/2 years. Upgrade is 6-8 most places. The big three UA, AA and DL only hire with no PIC if you're a girl or the son of the chief pilot. I haven't heard of anyone who fits into neither of those two categories who has gone to a major in under 5 years recently.
If you're counting Spirit, Allegiant and Virgin as majors I can see people getting there in 3.5 with a lot of persistence, but definitely not UA, AA and DL.