ULCC => legacy would be possible but there are several things going against that...

1. Upgrade time... if you find yourself needing more and/or jet TPIC it's going to take longer to upgrade than at a regional. You might miss the retirement wave, or a lot of it.

2. Recent type. Legacies kind of prefer a recent type training event. If you do a ULCC which has only one type, you might turn into a pumpkin after 3-5 years with no possible opportunity to get a new operational type. Even if you work at a single-fleet regional you can probably still upgrade and get out before it becomes an issue.

3. Perception. Legacies seem to prefer the young/hungry/motivated types from the regionals. If it were me, I'd hire from ULCC competitors before I robbed my own regionals of staff but that's not what they seem to do. You can overcome that, just be aware that you'll want to lean into it. As long as you come off as motivated/pro-active you should be fine.

If you do go that route, get 1000+ TPIC at the 135 and then I wouldn't wait to upgrade at the ULCC... get real aggressive with apps, networking job fairs, etc as soon as you get off IOE with your big-boy type.


Now I'm not saying it's wrong or bad, just telling what the most aggressive path would be. At your age, I'd recommend aggressive... otherwise if you may spend decades regretting a few years of QOL that painted you into a career corner. It happens, a lot. Of course if you married young and already have three toddlers then your flexibility is limited there so one size cannot fit all.