Originally Posted by rooinek

Had the same mentality: "If I go to X airline it would take me Y years to catch up on income from what I make at my regional". Even made a spreadsheet for it and turned down Frontier, Spirit, Atlas and Virgin. I decided I was only going to go to an airline that would offer an actual jump in pay. Then the DAL interview came and I wasn't hired. I thought it went well, I'm qualified, none of the others were more competent or better candidates, just the wrong interviewers on the wrong day I guess. Now considering JB as an option. The rest of the legacies may never call. Don't forget how much luck is involved in this career. Average pilot pay in 2016 at JB was ~$150k. Yes, at DAL it was ~$228k, but $150k is still way more than I can earn as a regional pilot.

Source: Airline Data Project