I was in the second forced upgrade class that OO ever held, back in 2022. At the time, I utterly hated the idea. I went from being the #2 FO in base, with whatever schedule I felt like flying...to a mid-level CA line that quickly degraded into endless reserve as West Coast CRJ flying was drawn down.

In retrospect, though, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I'd been an FO for far too long. I enjoyed being a CA, and leveraged that experience to move on to UAL, where I am now. If I hadn't been forced to upgrade, I'd probably still be warming the right seat of a CRJ. So I'm glad it happened.

My only advice to the folks currently getting forced into upgrading...do the best you can to turn a negative into a positive. With the significant hiring slowdown at mainline, 121 TPIC experience is pretty much going to be a requirement from here on out. Get that fourth stripe, enjoy building that left seat time, and get the heck out as soon as you can. You'll be glad you did.