Sliceback

Yeah, no one ever quits Major League baseball and chooses AAA instead.

Very, very few people who got trained at the same time in the past said "I'm choosing a regional instead of a major airline." Once you're 40, 50, 60 it might be different. But there's STILL guys quitting their regional job in their early 60's to go fly for a major airline for the last couple of years.

Part of better seniority means you got there sooner/quicker/younger. Add a year to the end of your career and your 401K should increase by an average of at least 5%. Your net worth will increase more like 9%. You'll be earning $350-400K+ as a n/b Captain and $450-500K+ as a w/b Captain. Get hired 3 years earlier and it's $1.0 to 1.5 million PLUS 3 years of 5-8% returns in your 401K for another $300-400K.

That's not counting if you get hired a year, 2, or 3 years younger you'll get summer vacations 1, 2, or 3 years sooner. Able to bid Christmas off at 32? Gues what if you got hired 3 years earlier you'd have held it off at 29. Get hired at 35 vs 38? That might mean the difference between ending your career as a w/b Captain vs never being a w/b Captain.

Seniority matters every single month. It's more noticeable over holidays and bidding for vacations, or switching to a w/b FO job, or upgrading, or upgrading to a w/b Captain job. I did great but guys hired a year ahead of me often made 20% more than I did AND had Christmas off and a summer vacation while I didn't. I had it better than 95%+ of the guys I flew with. The guys hired ahead of me who were younger made out like bandits. What secret sauce did they have? They got hired younger/sooner/quicker which resulted in better seniority. NO ONE WISHES THEY WERE LESS SENIOR. NO ONE.