viper548

I'm about 60% in base, which would easily hold a line. I'm also about 60% on the reserve list. Reserve in base is a completely different experience than commuting to reserve, i've done both. My first 2-1/2 years here I did a 2 leg cross country commute. Once our seniority list finally got settled I was able to transfer to a base much closer to home. It was an easy commute, 10 flights a day on mainline. We can reserve the jumpseat, and the flights were rarely full. Last year I was in the jumpseat 4 times, 2 of them to get another non-rev on. Even with the easy commute I was giving up 5 hours going to work and 5 hours going home. Add in an occasional time or two getting in too late to make it home also. I figured I spent 23 days of the year just going to and from work. I now live 7 miles from the airport.
I bid reserve sometimes at SkyWest and though it occasionally sucked, overall it wasn't that bad.

Getting on with a major is not a guarantee, like you said. It looks like you were part of the lost decade. It's still not easy, but the numbers of guys getting hired are huge. A few airlines even have guaranteed flow to mainline. Envoy, Piedmont, PSA all flow to American. I don't know the timeline on that, but I think it would be easier to do your time at a regional KNOWING there is a light at the end of that tunnel. If you're set on staying in STL then airline flying is probably never going to be attractive to you. Congrats on finding something that makes you happy though. That's what really matters. BTW your numbers on major airline pay are very conservative. Plan 1100-1200 hours per year times the hourly rate to include the distance learning pay, training pay, per diem, profit sharing, performance bonus, etc. I think Delta is more like 1400. Also add 16% going into your 401k. 1000 hours would be pretty close to the bare minimum (flying low time, no premium, no picking up extra trips)