That's part of the problem. I recall when there were 17 Year FO's at American Eagle in the early 1990's.

Spending more than 4 years at a regional is NOT the upward progression that this industry needs. It's the opposite.

Part of changing the "penalty box effect" as I call it is changing the fundamentals of the regional industry.

There are two areas that need change.

1. The model used to contract regional carriers
2. The representational model of the Airline Pilots Association

From a major (mainline pilot) dues paying member perspective, we need to change the relationship and priorities of ALPA.. If you go back and read why APA didn't come back to ALPA, the "relationship and priorities" were the two reasons why APA didn't come back to ALPA. That to me is a powerful and telling anecdote. It means they didn't trust ALPA to represent their mainline interests to a sufficient (minimum) degree. Change can either happen for the right reasons or not. When APA said NO, they were doing more than telling ALPA NO. They were drawing a road map as to where ALPA needed to go.

No one should be spending a significant amount of time at a regional carrier. It's contradictory to upward mobility and career progression, and it stifles your long term earning potential and career expectations. That's really common sense.