I enjoyed my time at Horizon, but agree with what others have said in terms of deteriorating schedules and quality of life over the past few years. For those that live in the pacific northwest, it can be tolerable, but as a commuter it's not easy, which was one of the biggest factors in my deciding to leave. I now have the same number of days off sitting reserve at a legacy carrier that I did even as a relatively senior lineholder on the -200.

My other concern with Horizon looking toward the future is whether or not they would survive a post-merger scenario. If another carrier were to merge with or buy Alaska, it wouldn't surprise me to see quite a bit of the flying that Horizon is currently doing go to another regional given Horizon's high cost structure compared to Skywest and others.

My gut feeling is that the CRJ's will be gone in the next couple of years, and they'll be an all Q400 fleet. I don't think it's just a scare tactic by management during the contract negotiations. Horizon's CEO has made it clear that he prefers the 400s, even with the questionable reliability.

All that being said, Horizon is still one of the better regionals out there. Great crews to fly with, decent pay, and some of the funnest flying I've experienced so far. There are a lot of questions for them going forward, but what airline isn't in that position right now?