I did 13 years at USAirways mainline, 2yrs at a regional and then 12yrs at NetJets before losing my medical at age 60 in 2017.
I liked the Fractional Flying so much that when USAirways called me back from furlough in 2007 I opted to take early retirement since I had just turned 50. It's not the place to go if you want to build time for a major airline slot. Regionals are much better for that.
Advantages of Fractionals, especially NetJets:
-Flying is a lot more varied than at the airlines. I've had to dig rocks out of a ditch to use for wheel chocks when we did an overnight at an unattended field. We had to ride the community center handicap van at Marfa, TX because there was no other ground trans available to our hotel 27 miles away in Alpine, TX. We broke at the old Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in PR just before New Year's. We got stuck in a Ritz-Carlton Resort ($700/night) for 3 nights including New Years
. Even after 12 years it was rare to not see a new airport during a tour. You will see a LOT of uncontrolled airports.
-You'll meet some interesting people, Governor's, Senators, Representatives, etc and lots of well known actors and sports figures.
-NO COMMUTING (unless you live in the boondocks)
-Pay at NetJets is not that far from what you'll make at a legacy airline. You won't see B777 Intl PIC wages but when I lost my medical in 2017 I was easily making $200K as a Phenom PIC and that was before Flight Duty Pay started. My guess is I'd be doing in the high 200's if I was there now working the 72 day schedule.
-Enough Hotel points and airline miles to do a vacation to Hawaii once a year. My wife and I flew 1st class CLT-LAX-HNL and back again and stayed at hotels using nothing but points. All we paid for was the rental car and of course food and tourist stuff.
-With the 7 on 7 off schedule you know when you'll be working many months in advance which is nice for planning family activities.
-less exposed to furloughs, especially with Berkshire Hathaway backing NetJets. 2008 was a very rare event, share owners had to use their jets as ATM's and it really hurt. Now they've fixed that. Normal recessions should not result in furloughs.
Disadvantages-
-A lot less control over your schedule than you'll have at an airline, especially if you're senior at the airline.
-shorter overnights. Fly for NetJets, see the world thru your hotel room window. More than 12 hours is rare unless you're broke somewhere with no available transportation out.
-you work harder, cleaning, stocking, loading bags, etc. At larger airports you'll have help and there are service centers where NetJet's people will do a lot for you.
-upgrading to PIC. It's not as bad as some posted, remember there was no hiring from 2008-2015 and I think they're about to starting upgrading the 2015 hires before too long.
I probably forgot a few things but I think I got the big points.