Originally Posted by
tonsterboy5
Majors flying their regional feed sounds great at first until you think of the fact that it will most likely be a pay cut. Yes united will hire pay more for each seat than a regional but I can almost bet they will put new hires from regional into the 76 passenger jet for a few years. The progression would be Air Wisconsin or mesa FO for 2 years, then captain for 3 before moving to united. When you leave the regional you will be making 75ish and hour will most likely take a pay cut to sit do for 4 more years making mid 60s as a fo at United on the same regional jet. Yes the mid 60s is more than a regional pays a FO but they will just be filling those seats with prior regional guys. The period of changing from regional flying to all in house will basically screw everyone that has paid their dues by further stunting career progression. About 5 years in it will be great for the guys at 1500 as they will be able to go straight to a major but there will be a price to pay for those during the transition. Let me get my seniority number and be senior enough to not be stuck in a RJ for both a regional and major.
You may want to take a look at the United Pilot Agreement before making the above assumption. First year pay on any fleet is just under $90/hour and you get the 16% B/C, 401K, etc. that the UPA provides. No regional I know of offers that. Second year you're over $100/hour and it goes up from there. One thing you can't put a dollar amount on is job security which is something no regional has right now compared to a major.