The entitlement mindset is a big contributing factor, not the only reason. The stepping stone companies have always been a bad place to be. I sure don’t miss the days of sleeping on the floor in a crash pad with a bunch of other guys, the old reserve regulations where you were continuously in rest until they called you so you could start your 16 hour day, horrible maintenance, extremely low pay, fly or you’re fired, failed sim and you’re fired, much harder training, and the list goes on. Even then there was a much larger pool of people willing to do their time because they knew that it would most likely pay off in the long run. Today people don’t want to do that. The pay still stinks and life at the regionals is no bed of roses, but you’re still flying modern equipment, most with some form of union contract, better maintenance, etc. Times have changed. People don’t want to do all of that work and deal with low quality of life in the process. They want good pay, great work rules, and a defined path to the majors. The path to the majors hasn’t changed, people’s willingness to go down that path has. That is where the entitlement mindset comes in.