Originally Posted by
Flyboy68
So you think it's more of a personal choice and not so much to do with their personality for many of them?
Obviously, you're going to have the ones with sketchy records or employment history, training failures.
So it's a mixture of both choice, and blemished records?
The bolded paragraph is just shocking. Don't they realize that they could make so much more money with just a few years of sacrifice if they moved to an LCC or major? Can they not do the math?
Many reasons.
Some have blemishes which probably cannot be overcome, or at least not for a top-tier job.
The "lost generation" often has established family and lives in a location which is not conducive to commuting.
A 10+ year regional CA is looking at a long pay cut to go to an LCC/ULCC.
Many are divorced with kids, and cannot move, or rock the boat with the custody sharing schedule.
Some don't want to be FO's again (stupid IMO... as a major FO I usually fly with great, experienced CA's. If not I can gently exercise my leadership skills to achieve the desired outcome).
It's a legit decision to stay, as long as you understand the stability risks of the regionals and have a plan B. If your plan B is starting over at age 50 as an FO at another regionals, then you should just go to an LCC now. Regionals may be in for "Rough Air" over the next decade.
I have also seen folks who are not putting in the effort... keep in mind that's a daunting prospect for a family man (or worse, Mom). Major job hunting is a full time job. If you do grab the ring, your reward is a paycut, many months of training, and then likely some time commuting to reserve at a junior base. The system is designed to "discourage" older family men, who I suspect are not considered the ideal candidate by the majors.