I am quite happy with my legacy position. If I could do it all over again I would make the same choice. I have been lucky to have enjoyed a comfortable age/seniority combination for my entire career. That however is rare and no feather in my cap. Pure luck.
With a charter and corporate background however, I do miss that type of flying. It offers so much more in job satisfaction. The variety of destinations, lifestyle on the road with often time to enjoy and the comradery of a small flight department among friends is hard to put a value on. Once it's in your blood it's there to stay.
It's very easey to fit in with an airline. Fly your trip, comply with policy and procedure, set the brakes and go home. Forget about it. In corporate flying there are a LOT more people skills involved. In my opinion, a large percentage of airline pilots would fail miserably in corporate aviation due to attitude alone. Hence the term "airline stink" when referring to corporate applicants with a legacy background.
When you compare a top tier legacy position (with which I'm familiar) to a true blue chip corporate career (which I never attained) I'm not so sure that I wouldn't be happier with the corporate route.
Galaxy Flyer has experienced both, and I am quite aware that legacy flying was never better than Eastern in its day.
I think he is a realist and posts from experience.
Personal happiness is not a competitive event.
CG