Originally Posted by Turbosina

I have precisely zero interest in joining UAL, or any legacy, at this time. I'm asking mainly because I'd love to see some more movement at my regional, simply so I can hold better schedules.

I realize that a select few of you mainline guys (edit: actually, just Grumble, it would appear) think you're the cat's pajamas, boasting about your Porsche Panameras, your 20 days off a month, how much flying you're taking back from the regionals, and whether you should buy that third house. I realize that you see regional guys and think that we're all scraping by on poverty wages. What you need to understand is that while that may indeed be true for many, it is a hugely mistaken assumption to make. For many of us, a job at mainline would be a gigantic financial step backwards.

The other day I flew with a partner in a corporate law firm who flies RJs as a fun side job. I guarantee you this individual pulls down annual compensation that would make a 30-year 777 captain drool with envy. I could go on and tell you about another guy, a regional FO who is personally known to me, who just bought a brand-new Piper Meridian turboprop. With cash. Google the MSRP on that baby. Now, admittedly, that's a pretty rare case. But you'd be surprised at how many guys I fly with, who don't really need to work at all.

It is my experience that those who boast about our financial stations in life...are usually the ones who are mortgaged to the hilt, with expensive toys bought on credit. It is the ones who don't speak of such things, who quietly go about their business while driving humble cars and living unostentatiously, who acquire true wealth.

You would not appear to be one of those wiser folks.