I was thinking more of leaving the sweat shop rates, crappy rest and duty regs, and well, with the money i'd save on income tax alone pretty sure I could pay for a triple bypass every year.

Touché. Well played.

Are you saying you'd abandon your current job, get the FAA tickets and start over at the bottom of a seniority list - just to live in the USA?

As a Canadian who immigrated to the U.S., I have little insight to offer, since I made the move as a youngster, and got my ratings south of the border. My first stick time was in a Beaver on floats in BC and I was enamored with the idea of a pure-Canadian flying career. But my dad's career put that idea out of contention, as we lived in the U.S. during my high school and college years. I wanted nothing more than to fly for AC or CP when I was starting out. I had a strong internal advocate at AC, back in the day when I think such things carried some weight. I was looking into license conversions and a potential Twin Otter job with Air BC (Lethbridge AB base, $600 per month or so); the process seemed as daunting as astronaut selection for little reward, so I did not continue the quest. I ended up flying Otters down here for 2.5 x greater pay, which was still pitiful (married colleagues qualified for food stamps). As my career progressed, it became more evident that I had taken the best path for earnings and working conditions. It seems the disparity between U.S. and Canadian pilots doing essentially the same job is most pronounced in the present day. Throw in the dollar value difference and the comparison is particularly heinous. My uncle retired off the 767 at AC around 25 years ago. He frequently commented "we are paid rather well for what we do." He'd be rolling over in his grave if confronted with the realities of today! I understand your thought process regarding a southward migration.

I was doing some sim instruction on the 737 at a 142 training center a few years ago. We had a number of Canadians coming through to get their FAA ATP. All sharp folks. Even the Martin Mars pilots handled the 300 knot leap forward in good order. I don't think I have any special knowledge on the topic of license conversions, but I am familiar with the players in the game. Feel free to PM with any questions.

Main cabin 2???
 

My last two PS commutes both produced a main cabin 2 boarding pass. Initially I thought it was a mistake but now it happened twice. Did we just get bumped from main cabin 1 to main cabin 2? I thought I read somewhere that we were supposed to be Main cabin 1.

Scoop

I was under the impression your boarding zone depends where your row number is in the jet. MC1 in the back, MC2 in the front of coach. MC3 usually the Basic economy. I just board at the end of economy comfort. Always have bin space, never rubbed a HVC wrong.

+1 to boarding after EC. I never care what zone I am I always board at the same time.

^^^^^^ This. Not trying to talk everyone into it, but politeness respect and some light-hearted banter with fellow DL employees seems to set one up well for boarding at a sensible moment, at least while in uniform. I'm always prepared for a "step aside until your zone is called" reaction, but it's never happened.

Similar, but I board “with” the Sky Priority zone, and just sort of get in near the back of that group of people. I’ve never once gotten any sort of push back from an agent, and if I did, I’d stand there for about 5 seconds until they then called main cabin 1 and I’d scan and be on my way…

OK - Thanks guys. I do the exact same thing, board at the end of the priority line and never had any push back. I am still curious if there has been a change and why I am now seeing Main cabin 2. Something has changed.

Scoop

My passes still say Main Cabin 1, so not sure what's going on there. Also one of the newsletters that I read recently (base, fleet, can't remember) mentioned that we are supposed to board after Sky Priority.