Oscar,
I work for Southern and and over all I like it. It is a tough life being gone as much as we are but improvements are on the way. I would not recommend it for a young family.
We are currently voting on a new contract and should know if it passes after the 1st of August. Not a huge improvement in pay but quality of life should get better. I will not go into the details until the voting is complete.
Cargo over pax- definately.
Upgrade time is based upon many factor: time in heavy aircraft, time with Southern, overall experience, and general "command ability". They have had direct entry captains and others that just needed some experience with the company. Others will never make it.
The majority of the guys are great, but like every company there are weiners.
Having PFEs is a good thing. Most have great deal of experience and work their tails off. They have kept me out of trouble more than once.
There are worse places to work. Where? Ask the guys that are joining us from Champion, Tradewinds, and Skywest, among others.
They keep hiring more than they are loosing so they must be adding more planes. They don't tell us until it happens.
It would be a good place for a younger pilot to get PIC experience. If you have the experience to get hired, get the time to upgrade and spend a couple years flying left seat. Move on to better things.
The worst thing is crew scheduling. The blind leading the blind. Only one of them has a clue and she is hamstrung be the idiot in charge. Ask me tomorrow and I will tell you what I really think.
The VP of ops, Mike Hartley, is gone and has not been replaced permanently yet.
You can check my other post I have answered a lot of questions in those.
Good luck.
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747 Size does matter.