I am very grateful. I've been furloughed. I know unemployment. I've taken jobs stocking shelves when I couldn't get a decent pilot position.
My intention wasn't too brag, it was to point out how obscene it is someone can make double that salary as an FO. Shoot, I made more than that at Southern as an FO. It's deplorable.

Unfortunately, you're right, they will get takers.

They have regional guys beating down their door to fly a wide-body.

Not exactly a large group beating down the doors. Last two classes of 12 had 10 make it through the door and 7 or 8 finish training. Neff should be happy as he believes in the free market and no one is coming at his price.


They haven't lied to me yet today.....

If you are a regional guy looking for a shortcut to a major, ACMI is not it.
ACMI has several features which may be attractive to the right person. i.e. Long flights to foreign locations, per diem for 20 days, mostly really good co-workers, it doesn't take invasion-level preparations to go to the john in flight.

But you will get to a major faster by staying put, or if an upgrade is not looking good where you are, by jumping to another regional looking for DECs.

ACMI isn't a dead end, but it is a cul-de-sac. You can get by comfortably at one, but it won't take you anywhere.

Careful Robthree...

Several guys I know have left Atlas, Kalitta, and Ryan for better pastures the last two years, including FedEx, American, Delta, and United.

Not advocating one course over the other...but guys ARE getting plucked here and there from ACMI gigs into other options.

Not at all what Robthree was implying.

He was saying that ACMI is, at best, a lateral move from most regionals (the glaring exception being Atlas)

Lots of guys, myself included, bailed from the regional world early, thinking that some widebody time would hasten my path to the majors. Instead, it did the exact opposite; had I stayed at my first regional I likely would have been picked up at a legacy years ago. Instead, my career stagnated.

While many guys do indeed get picked up by the legacies after a stint in ACMI land, the bottom line remains that most would have gotten to their end goal far sooner had they just stayed put.

Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, and should a person find themselves at an incredibly crappy regional then by all means, take the plunge, but I can only think of maybe one or two such regionals where this plan of action would make sense.

There are so many posted comments about virtually every Regional carrier, ACMI carrier; as well Regional v. ACMI comparisons you’d be illiterate not to get the general picture. I too have lived both & yes, enjoyed both, at different times for different reasons. 10-12 days off in a row is excellent but comes to an end soon enough. 18-20 on the road is tall order. Constant time zone surfing can lead to wildly irregular body rhythms. Most guys/gals I know stash various sleep assisters for those endless hours, completely exhausted, it just won’t happen. Kept right next to the diarrhea suppressors, laxatives, antihistamines and antibiotics. Chasing aircraft…36K on 8+ DH’s is absolutely no one’s idea of a good time. Assigned often enough, might qualify for status under a Geneva code? Sort ain’t too bad…ain’t all together good either. In my personal experience signing OE paperwork, nearly all of the regional guys transitioned to wide body international flying quite readily. Note* There is most definitely a learning curve. Is it for you? Is it for your loved ones? Who could say for each unique set of circumstances? Would I do it solely to get noticed at DL, AA or UA? Nope.

Didn't Southern get you to United? (Not trolling, just curious if there were other factors involved)

Excellent, reasonable, non-emotional advice. Thank you for a breath of fresh air!

Any updates? Same old?