I had a eloquent post all typed out and hit send only to see it all disappear so I'll just repost something that Joe never responded to before because it definitely applies here.
Joe, at some point in time, you made a choice by weighing all the variables and deciding to make a trade off. You decided that giving up the seniority you have at ASA for the higher pay and long term gain of employment at a major wasn't worth the loss of a good schedule, risk of furlough, moving expense,etc.
I can totally understand that. The flip side of that choice at the time was you realized you wouldn't fly a larger airplane or make as much money as you would have if you had gone to that interview and gotten hired at a major.
What it boils down to is that now you want to have your cake and eat it, too. Even though you made that decision before to forgo the benefits of major airline employment, you now want the whole enchilada, to fly "more and bigger planes" for much less pay than what they would be flown for at mainline, taking jobs away from folks who still want to move up to the majors who aren't as senior as you at the regionals. The junior folks at the regionals don't have that reasonable schedule and decent pay that a semi-senior guy like yourself may hold. I think I can speak for quite a few when I say that if I'm going to be junior, I want to be junior at a major, where at least the dues I pay by being junior are offset by a livable wage. You made your bed by choosing to stay at the regionals, don't try to steal the sheets from those trying to make it to a better career at mainline.
The big question is whether or not enough senior pilots at mainline have learned the lessons of the past and realize how important scope is to the future of the profession, or if they share Joe's mentality of "I'm getting mine, screw everyone else!"
Rant over, but Joe's outlook on this is the epitomy of selfishness that got us into this mess in the first place.
To the pilots of Continental and United, please make scope your number one priority.