Originally Posted by Phoenix21

Somewhat of an unpopular opinion but, If you’re going to a regional with the hopes to go to a legacy, you’ll likely require 5-7 years to get there unless you go to another, intermediate, destination (LCC, ACMI etc.) first. If you are a regional captain for more than 5 years and aren’t a line check airman you become deemed an increased training risk by legacy HR departments and move into that regional lifer category. This is what makes the flow AA offers to their WO pilots so appealing. This also why AA feels it can pay its WO pilots significantly less than other regionals.

Looking at contracts, you need to take the approach of where would you like to be stuck if you become a regional lifer. If that’s too tough of a pill to swallow, at least look at the first 5 years which is in that hiring sweet spot for legacies.

PDTs pay durig the first 5 years (especially once on the captain side) is less than:

Endeavor
Republic
Skywest
Expressjet
Gojet
Trans States
Air Wisconsin
PSA
Envoy

Pay is better than Commutair and barely Better than Mesa, but folks pick Mesa over PDT for better QOL.

If you’re doing a head to head comparison between Piedmont and Commutair since PHL is between IAD and EWR then sure, PDT comes out ahead unless you pass all the wickets of CPP. If that happens you’ll be out the door to United years (about 5-6 of them) before you’ll flow to mainline AA at Piedmont.