Originally Posted by
sweetholyjesus
The problem is I never tried to make it apples to apples, because if it was, the question would be pointless. The business model, customer experience, and principles are all different. I was curious to see if any of these factors have any real weight in someone's decision, or if pay scale trumps all.
For me personally...
Internal company culture (as experienced by the pilots) is huge. I will not work in a toxic culture, period. Few majors fit that description these days.
External culture, how the customers and public perceive the company, would certainly be a tie breaker if all else were about equal.
But most of us are not going to have multiple job offers in hand at one time (unless you're a top-tier fighter pilot). It would be a bad idea for most pilots to selectively apply to certain majors unless geography is a factor (ie if you live in NY and aren't moving, probably shouldn't apply to Hawaiian).
I think Aquaticus nailed it though.