Take the upgrade, if LCA happens obviously snag that asap. I asked the Alaska chief 2 years ago if I should go to the training department or continue flying and upgrade. Word for word he told me we’re interested in hiring pilots not instructors. So I opted to stay out of the training department and fly as much as I could and upgraded. As far as coming to Alaska if you get an interview and offer then take it, that’s what I did. I was over the regional lifestyle and while it’s not much better here at Alaska at the moment it’s still better. If you get an offer for something better make the choice and decide from there if you want to stay or go. Remember that you get the smallest sample on this forum of the combined airline... there’s a whole lot of problems right now that we’re trying to fix but it’s not all doom and gloom and some of this is going to take awhile to fix.