Keep in mind you don't pick your airline, they pick you. Love the one that loves you. If anything it might be the stepping stone to #1. Just don't tell your current date, they might get sensitive about it.

Assuming that you can meet the currency requirements, or if they get waived for you, you might get on with choice #3 or #2. The longer you're not at #1 the stronger your current job gets and the weaker choice #1 gets. No one with ten years at one of the Big 3/4 is leaving for one of the other carriers. Six month mark? Yes. A year? Uh. Two years? Few and far between.

So the variables, which are huge until you're selected, is who will hire you and where do you want to live? What if #3 hires you? Move? Commute? And the variables are still present if you're at 'not #1' if you decide to pursue #1 for a year or two.

So year one might be adapting to choice 'not #1' while continuing to pursue choice #1. If it takes a year and you're fortunate enough to get to choice #1 you can plan on about 1-2 years to becoming a line holder, or longer if you're trying to get based at a senior base. But many would choose living in base on reserve to commuting to a line.

Commuting to reserve is the worst. It can be a long year or two hanging out in a crash pad if you don't have a better housing option. But in the current environment at the Big 3 the retirements will generate an acceleration of options with the passage of time.

The best part of the job is leaving it behind. For big boys it's a simple job, show up, do your job, be decent to people around you, have a beer on a layover, fly back. Shake hangs with the guy you hopefully had a great time with and go home. Wife asks "how was it?" "All the F/A's were short, fat, and ugly. Other than that it was fine." Always a good tactic.

For all the complaining you read about online the number of guys who quit and go back to the military, corporate, or 'real world' M-F, 9-5 jobs, are amazingly few. That's telling you something.

Good luck.