Originally Posted by
Saabless
Envoy for sure. One interview and you're set for a career eventually with AA without ever having to commute, got to LCC after a few years at a regional, and eventually work for one of the best airlines in the world. Your quality of life and marriage is more important than chasing this career around.
Flow through agreements have a VERY, VERY bad historical track record for success (ie they tend to get cancelled before many people flow).
But in this case with so many retirements pending I would research the details of the flow agreement and the projected MANDATORY retirements at AA and based on that seriously consider Envoy. It will be important that enough senior envoy pilots move out of the way to allow you to upgrade (required prior to flow). Make sure there are not a bunch of eagle lifers who are going to sit tight and constipate your career plan.
For comparison, as mandatory retirements kick in over the next few years it will probably be safe to assume that upgrade on average at the various regionals will take three years, followed by two years of flying to get 1000 hours. That is no longer the assured path to the majors but it still seems to be an important career milestone and it's one that you have no control over once on a seniority list, so it's worth considering before you pick a regional.
But even without flow, there should be plenty of job opportunities for pilots from other regionals. That's why the flows have become so popular all of sudden...the majors know they're going to eventually end up losing their selectivity and having to hire just about everyone anyway, so they may as well get some negotiating capital out of it.