The years to get back to where you are vs the qol and interesting career along the way while the financial sense works itself out is something to consider. You will be making a decent living as you work your way back up and might be enjoying your work/ life balance more. You could stay and hammer out domestic stuff for an entire career but seeing some of the world for a year or two is pretty amazing. I understand the handful of international destinations that are available to you but this is different. The big airlines offer a lot of diversity in where you want to get comfortable. You don’t have to stay in that forever and can bounce around to where your life matches up with the qol and paycheck.

Delta is a shrewd competitor and has multiple reasons why they will be more profitable vs their competition for the foreseeable future. If you’re going to bet on a horse it’s a pretty mean looking thoroughbred. The golden handcuffs happen but there’s also enjoyment and time with what matters at stake.