You hit the bulls-eye on this one, and it's a point I have been trying to make around here. It's tough getting people out of the old mindset of "PIC time is gold".

With that said, I invite everyone to take a look at AA's retirement numbers provided by Cujo, consider how Envoy has 50% of each AA class minimum, and do the math. What Regional will get you to mainline sooner? The only advantage of upgrading to Captain these days at the Regional level is the bump in pay. An enhanced flow is the fastest way to mainline for individual pilots...regardless of what seat they are in.

And even still, Envoy's upgrade times are approaching the 3 1/2 to 4 year mark for newhires and it will continue to drop. The PIC time won't do you any good, but you will get the bump in pay before flowing over to AA with no interview in 6 years or less.