Ok. I will try to answer the questions in a semi brief manner.

Pay: On the surface the 7/7 pay schedules look very similar to each other but there are huge differences in compensation. The largest being that while training at NJ you are on the 18 day pay at NJ which is substanially higher. You can choose to stay on that schedule as well but that is another paragraph. There is no soft money (extra pay) at CS unless you do OT. NJ has extra pay for early starts, long duty days, long periods of standby, in addition to extra pay for late returns home and holiday pay. All this soft money adds up to an extra 10 percent give or take which further divides the 7/7 pay. Also the next biggest factor is the free insurance at NJ while family coverage at CS is 400 bucks and goes up a lot each year. That is 4800 bucks alone so now the difference in first year pay between the 2 companies is about 12 grand Add in the fact you dont use as much of your per diem at NJ because of crew meals that could be a few thousand more.

Vacations and Schedules: Having done 7 and 7 for a few years now I have come to appreciate the flexibility needed in my life. With CS you get 1 week of vacation first 5 years then 2 from then on. With NJ you start with 2 then get 3 after 5 then 4 after 10 years. This is a big deal when you want to have a good qol and really need to be off for something. Also with just 7/7 schedule (which CS has decided to stick with exclusively) you have very little flexibility. You can't get shorter trips or you cant try to bid weekends off like you can at NJ. 7 and 7 is fine when the they fall on the right weeks but when you miss your kids birthdays you will wish you could have maybe had the chance to bid off.

Job Security: Now I am not one who thinks NJ is untouchable in a bad economy just because they are owned by BH but they are a profitable company, something CS has never been and will probably not be for a few more years if ever. I feel over a 25 year career I have a better chance of keeping my job with NJ versus a much more unstable CS. Also CS has no backlog of customers like NJ. CS is well below their sales goals for this year in fact. Hence them getting rid of the CJ1s and some of the bravos. NJ may have 3000 pilots but they are hiring 400 a year for the next few years while CS may be hiring less than 40 over the next 2 years. Lets face it. Upgrades are going to be long at either place so it makes sense to go to the one with the best overall job outlook and compensation.

A huge factor that those who have never done it (especially military) is the lack of dispatch at CS. PICs are pretty much on their own when it comes to flight planning and covering their butts while you get a little help at NJ. When things go bad this can be the difference between keeping your job or not.

I don't care much about the union except it is very nice to have a set of rules that cannot be broken without recourse. CS mgmt is notorious for constantly changing policies to fit their given situation.

And Learflyer you are just bitter because NJ turned you down and you think just because you worked for FLOPs you have some sort of special right to a job. I have spoken with over 10 guys who were former CS pilots and now work at NJ and they have all agreed that the difference between CS and NJ is night and day and none of them (even the CS captain that left for NJ) has regretted it.