I’m as strong a union pilot as the next. The answer is it’s all about a seniority number. The difference at my airline between when I got hired and 10 months later over the last 32 years was huge in terms of pay and quality of life. My career as a whole has been significantly better then the guy hired 10 months after me.

If your goal is a legacy (AA, DAL, UAL, SWA or Fedex & UPS - top tier pilot jobs) its a race to get there as soon as you can.

So to answer you question. If flying at Southern gets you to a Regional significantly faster then flight instructing or other 135 flying jobs, then that in turn gets you too a top level flying job faster, that’s saving you (or portentously costing) you big bucks!

Plus what if you save yourself several years getting to a top level flying job. Let’s say you miss a hiring waive and have to wait several years for your next opportunity. That’s going to cost you big bucks.

First year pay at most top tier companies 70 to
90K. Second year over 100K to 150K. Five year Widebody FO’s or junior Narrow body Captains way over 200K. Top pay 300K to 450K. It’s a race to the big leagues and seniority is everything. You want to get their the fastest and need to build time in a hurry best bet is Southern. My humble opinion anyway.