This has all been said before, and it's getting annoying that people are oblivious to the following argument. If you examine a 10 year span, starting with when a Laker first begins his or her 121 career, he/she is , without a doubt, one of the highest paid pilots in the industry over that 10 year period. Basically, we make it higher up the ladder much quicker. The affect an extremely small EAS commuter like Lakes has on the rest of the industry is nil. Lakes operates like commuter airlines of the past; like operations that flew Metros, 1900Cs, and Jetstreams. Those operations didn't pay the best, but you got your time and got out. Speak to about 30-40% of major airline captains, and they will tell you this same story. You can't really compare Lakes to a 70+ seat RJ operator. A more fair and accurate comparison would be to compare a 70+ seat RJ operator to a major airline. You can hardly call most regionals airlines "regionals" these days. Those flying hub to hub in aircraft less than 150 seats are, on average, doing it for half the pay they were 15 years ago. Yeah, Lakes is to blame for that....whatever. The math is simple:

Lakes- Year 1: $16, Year 2: $29 (upgrade), Year 3: $30 (2 types and check airman possible), Year 4: Probation pay at large jet operator

RJ operator- Year 1: $23, Year 2: $30, Year 3: $34, Year 4: $36, Year 5: $65 (upgrade)