I talked to a recruiter from Piedmont today. I'm a few months out from having my CFI, and their cadet program sounds really tempting. This is the gist of what they told me:
-Low upgrade times (12-14 months)
-Will pay me $500 for every 100 hours I log as a CFI on my way from 500 to 1500 hours ($5,000 total)
-First year pay will be in the low $50,000s (including bonuses)
-Minimal time on reserve, 6 weeks is the average right now
-Guaranteed flow to American after 5 years (but usually around 4 years)
-Great benefits
The whole deal sounded good. Almost too good. Any downsides the recruiter left out? I'm from the west coast but if everything the recruiter said was true, I would be more than happy to move to the east coast if it meant flying for American in 6-7 years.