yeah that was a very accurate post.
as a former eagle pilot and a chq pilot this is my view. Eagle deffinately has the stability thing going. Nothing has really changed there in years and its not going anywhere for the forseable future. Eagle has good work rules that are both fair to the company and the employees. Eagle actually does have more types of aircraft than republic curently wich some you may want to fly and some you may not (i recomend the ATR great airplane). Eagle also lets you pick your base which, if you live in BOS DFW LGA ORD MIA SJU or LAX areas, can make your life really simple. Republic has some very good pro's too. They are GROWING. They are always adding new flying and new airplanes. They are independent and thus if one airline has a down turn they can easily move flying around to prevent massive layoffs. They have a SIGNIFICANTLY HAPPIER work group. Aside from the normal stuff people ***** about, no one is really angry at management. Their pay though not as good as eagles, is only a dollar an hour or so differnt so not a big deal and is much better than other places. Eagles negatives are well, upgrade time, the whole flow through/back mess, lack of growth, and the bitterness from the pilot group. The biggest reason people are upset all stems back to the flow through/back issues. The guys who are now finally upgrading after 8+ years as FO's were originally told it was a 18 month upgrade. Now they are finally seeing the left seat and being told by the company we cant compete with other regionals cause we pay you too much. Eagle wants to get rid of them so they can bring in younger (ie cheaper) captains and be more on par with places like RAH where after 10 years with the company, you can be the most senior check airman at the base while 10 years at eagle, you can finally hold a line in SJU. The whole mess has made many guys bitter and it really hurts the work enviornment. Republic also has negatives, though all the growth is good, what will happen in the future if they cant sustain the growth. They almost bit off more than they could chew with the continental contract but were barely able to get those crj-200's in on time to stop the bleeding. The 50 seat and smaller flying is also being scaled back. Will it all be replaced by 170's and larger? According to Bedford yes but he isnt God (yet).
I hope this helps. If I can offer any single piece of advice on picking an airline, find the one that has a base as close as possible to your favorite bar. They all have good and bad things so why go all over the place and have a bad day and be some where you dont want to be that night.