Well said Bumm....but I do have a couple other points....
Originally Posted by
Bumm
The problem with this logic is that you're making the very dangerous assumption that you WILL be able to move on in 8 months. No one can really be sure whats going to happen at any given airline. Just because upgrade might be at 6 months right now doesn't mean its going to take YOU 6 months to upgrade. And usually the places with the shortest upgrade are also the crummiest places to work (the short upgrade is usually because of everyone getting out as soon as they can). If you get that quick upgrade and move on, great, but what if you don't? How are you going to feel if you have to stay at that airline longer than you thought you would?
I'm not saying upgrade time isn't something important to consider, but its a pretty shaky thing to base your decision on, and shouldn't be the sole factor in what airline you chose to work for.
Everybody's different in whats important to them in the airline they work for, and if you're willing to take a chance going for the short upgrade and nothing else, more power to you. I tend to agree with the idea that you should pick an airline based close to where you live, or want to live. For me, at least then whatever happens I'll be living someplace I want to be.
Also, as far as GoJets, whatever YOUR opinion of GoJets might be, there are plenty of folks at the majors that are going to have a pretty low opinion of GoJets and everyone that works there due to the circumstances around its creation. You might be flying with (or even interviewed by) some hard core union guys, maybe even a few that lived through a strike back in the 80's, and they might not think much of you and the airline you're coming from.
In my experiece just about all Regional airlines are "crummy"... Currently I fly for one that went from the best to one of the worst in the short 3 years I have been there. Odd enough, I turned down the one that I thought was "crummy" 3 years ago, had i taken it, I would have upgraded about 1 year ago and currently be well into my career with a major.
If a major airline is your ultimate goal, then upgrade should be a very high % of your decision.
Also, your point on unions .... because of my experieces here I have begun to take a rather dim view of them and how much they protect my job. If the guys in pilot hiring at the majors really knew about what went on within every MEC they probably would not care for most of the regional unions. I assume they just don't care to know...as I wouldn't either at that point.