Been here 8 years. If I include the gains from not having to commute (live in legacy base, commute to NK, so not the same for everyone, would get trip rigs from getting to the crew room, as opposed to spending 10-ish hours per trip not getting paid), and upgrade after 3 years, I would break even after about 10 years, based on current contract, all narrow body. And could sit reserve at home. Anything WB would be a vast improvement financially. With all retirements at the legacies and our upgrades exclusively based on growth, I think anybody with 20 years to go and still on reserve as a captain here should at least look at it. Of the 14000 pilots at AA , 11000 will retire in the next 2 decades. of the 2800 at NK, 1800 will still be here. To achieve the same seniority if you get hired now, based on AA not growing, we need to grow to 8500 pilots, and 550airplanes (nevermind that with WB, NB is much more junior, so being 30% company wide at AA is much better seniority as NB captain compared to being 30% at any single fleet operator like SWA NK or F9..). Not impossible, but not exactly guaranteed either.

And the music can stop here too, so sitting reserve as a captain for a long time after already having done years as an FO.....