I jumped from TSA to Shuttle America. I just took my oral today and so far I'm happy I made the jump.

A lot of people gave me crap about doing it. Most were about to upgrade, or did recently. Anybody that's been there for a while said they'd bail if they were in my shoes. There were a number of things I based my decision on and it took quite a while to decide. It was made even more difficult by the fact that I really enjoyed the flying and the job. There are some really good people out on the line at TSA including a ton of good friends. Basically it came down to a few factors:

1) Management. They don't look past tomorrow there. Everything is knee-jerk and very short-sighted.

2) Upgrades were only for attrition. Yes, the upgrade is currently down to one year. However there are now quite a few captains there without enough PIC to go anywhere. I have this crazy theory that upgrades are about to come to a fast stop there. Throw in a merger and a bankruptcy or two and it will stop real fast.

3) Growth. 70 seaters are the future. I don't like that I fly the jet I fly for the money I make. I have every intention of doing what I can to raise the bar when I get off probation and have a say. I didn't like flying the 50 seater for the same amount. However, you will never see anything larger than 50 seats at TSA because you all know where Hulas will send the bigger jets.

Because of these three primary reasons, I decided to move on before I was entrenched in the seniority list to somewhere that I wanted to stay for a while. I did lots of homework on RAH and came to the conclusion that it would be a place I would like to work for a while. I have no desire to make a career out of the regionals but I'm also not dillusional about the prospects of going up the ladder fast. There are tons of people that have much better qualifications than I do who aren't getting jobs at the majors.