Well, if you have significant 121 time, then you know it isn't 24/7/365 at least after you're done with LOE. If you live in a hotel on reserve, you're likely to spend as much on the hotel as you make in a month, so an apartment is the way to go.

I don't think you'll have the kind of say in how much you fly at SkyWest as you seem to imply. It's very likely to change drastically next month, but for the last few years junior lineholders flew 90+ hours per month whether they wanted to or not. I had to break 30% in seat to have a min line credit value under 90 hours. These next few months they very well may fly min guarantee whether they want to or not (along with the senior guys too.) We'll see.

As far as productive trips go, that's what most people want so the more productive the trips are, the more senior you have to be to hold them. Junior guys get the less productive trips, though we do have a 2:1 duty rig so mostly you'll fly at least half the time you're at work. Airport sits are a fact of life though unless you are the tippy top of the seniority list. And that'll be true anywhere.

We're having a little hiccup in the industry right now as you might have noticed. SkyWest is still hiring for now, but reserve times might be increasing significantly. I'm curious to see what April's bid package looks like...maybe it'll be okay, but it also wouldn't shock me one bit to find that you have to bid 50% or better just to stay off reserve next month.