The times of quick upgrades and using the regionals as a stepping stone to move on are long gone. Regional airlines will continue to grow and replace more and more mainline flying. People are not looking at the big picture. There won't be any mainline jobs to move on to, and even if there are some major airlines hiring, there are thousands and thousands of pilots with more time, more type ratings and more experience than somone with his 1000 TPIC at Colgan.

All regional airlines suck, but some of them suck more than others. Bottom feeders like Colgan and Mesa is one of the reason we have such crappy wages. People went to these places because they were chasing the quick upgrade and blowing off and putting up with the BS and low pay. And now look at them, there is no movement, the pay and workrules are still absolutley horrendous, so now they voted in a Union in hopes of getting a fair contract. I personally don't see it happen anytime soon, just look at PNCL. But, there are still thousands of people lined up that want to go fly at Colgan. Even after the crash, all the bad press, they are hiring and getting more airplanes. The gov't, majors or passengers don't care about safety, all they care about is numbers, and if the Passenger can save $1 on a round-trip ticket, they will still get on a Colgan plane.