You might be out of the loop. The most junior guy from the LASA side that is currently holding CA on either the CRJ or ERJ is about 14-15 years now. The latest system bid 18-11 awarded 60 of the most senior pay protected LASA FOs a CA seat on the CRJ in ORD. I think the most junior guy awarded CA on 18-11 was right at 10.5 years (Very close to that). No upgrade classes have been scheduled for any of the guys that were awarded and the earliest for anyone will be on line is summer 2019. The company states this is because they are short on FOs and there's a delay in aircraft deliveries.

Since the LASA and LXJT pilots are all on one list now, the most junior LASA FO that was awarded CA is at 10.5 years, not 7.5.

You can kind of read between the lines in all that. Until this is resolved, it's really not fair to say upgrade times will drop significantly. I get that you are "optimistic" about things. For the sake of making a career as a pilot less disappointing to many, I try to tell them the facts and let them make their own decisions. XJT cannot prevail on sugar coated dreams. Management needs to wake up and actually do something. They have burned both groups in many ways along the years and it shows.