This professor is out flying 100 hours a month to hit his 1,000 TPIC as a security policy, and so I can hound every friend and family member I have at SWA, Virgin, FDX, etc. to help me get into their club before the music stops.

Regarding the choice to join or not join Mesa: I wouldn't be as aggressively-worried about hitting my 1,000 hours TPIC as a career insurance policy if I were at Envoy/Endeavor/PSA/PDT--just saying. There's a whole lotta value in being at a wholly-owned: INSANELY better hotels (Hyatt/Westin/Marriott vs. LaQuinta, Microtel, Ramada, Days Inn in every city you sleep in), 20-30% better payrates across the board, and most of all a decent pathway to a "real" airline job where you're actually employed by the colors you're flying on your tail--that my friend is priceless.