I'm in a bit of a different boat being a helo driver, but I'm making the jump here in a few months (last day is April 20th and report for training April 24th). As I've done quite a bit of shopping around deciding where to go I can shed some light on the popular regionals right now. They change weekly on where people are headed.

Endeavor doesn't have a true flow like BN said, but they have a guaranteed interview. There forum say that the success rate is as high as 66% or as low as 33% depending on which metric you use to measure it (33% first pass rate vs 66% pass rate when you include second tries, I guess you get two?). Endeavor right now has the highest 1st year pay with their annual bonus and they have pretty fast upgrade times (faster if you have hours already). They are in contract negotiations to get the bonus included in their pay rates vs being a bonus that could go away.

The AA wholly owned (they are similar in many ways to the point where if you go with them, odds are you are going to pick the one with the best base options for you). There pay is up there as well with the large signing bonuses they offer. There is a "dip" in second year pay, but they are all predicting upgrade within 24 months. They have a true flow (predicted at 5 to 6 years) which is a nice backup plan if your phone doesn't ring otherwise. You can get hired outside the flow so with the military block checked, if AA is on your short list, I don't see you waiting too long for the call.

As for the Majors not wanting to cannibalize from their regionals, my impression is that this might have been the case a few years ago. My 80 year old father-in-law (Mohawk Airlines) said the same thing. I don't think this is the case anymore. I agree if they had to pick between two equal pilots they might pick one from a competitor's regional, but I think the pool of qualified pilots is getting pretty shallow. PSA just had 3 pilots hired to AA outside the flow.

My best route is to go to the regionals to get them to pay for the CTP/ATP and build time with them. I'll keep my application farmed out the majors that I'm interested in as well as attend any job fairs where they have recruiting teams. We are counting on three years at a regional, but we could go longer if needed. Shorter would be great.

When it comes to picking one where you want to head to get current and some 121 time, the same factors always pop up. If you can live in base, do that! First year pay. QOL. Pick one where if the phone doesn't ring you and your family will be happy.

Best of luck to all looking to make the switch