Its hard to predict right now because by the time you're ready Horizon will be a very different airline..all I can go off of us what we know right now..13 more jets in 2018 and minus 5 dashes..if you want to upgrade you will be able to as soon as youre qualified but it will be in the q400.

Expect to sit reserve for at least 6 months..which isn't half bad..a lot of us sat reserve for years and years..

I’m interested to see the progression as well. I’m a 1500 hour wonder with wet ink on my ATP cert. so I’m not gonna even qualify to upgrade for 2 years I’m guessing.

I was told that the Q400 is quite a handful to fly especially trying to transition from the jet and simultaneously change seats. Plus the schedules are brutal resulting in low QOL. Also, no guarantee of a SEA base which was big for me coming from Dallas. I didn’t want to face the possibility of either commuting to reserve or having to move twice.

Commuting would be less of an issue now that I’m in Seattle but the transition is still intimidating. And I assume the jet has better layovers as well as more efficient lines.

I'm not sure if the layovers are any better on the jet, but many are longer.

I think reserve on the jet might actually be a pretty good gig. The downside? You probably won't fly too much. The jet is slightly overstaffed and Horizon is doing a lot of training in the airplane, so I get the impression that the reserves aren't doing much. If you get a trip "taken" for training, then you'll be pay guaranteed.

I guess we’ll see. I’m awaiting OE right now on the jet. So I’m on OE reserve. When I get released to regular reserve I’m expecting to do some more sitting around while they try to get through the rest of the training backlog.

E175 upgrade
 

New guy here. My only contribution is to add a dash of hope for jet captain upgrades. Two guys in my Oct class were Q400 FOs with less than two years at Horizon. I'm hoping they're not the unicorn captains, because I wanna be in the left seat that quick too. Who wouldn't.

It is just an airplane dude....The Horizon guys have turned it into urban legend stuff...Just learn it and dont stop hand flying...If you cant make it through upgrade it is a complete failure of the Horizon training department...as in egos run amuck....

The Q400 can smell your fear.

They were unicorn captains, along with the Sept jet CA awards.

I find it amusing that so many people hate the Q. It's not that bad, it's a plane, just like any other plane. I actually enjoy flying it, and its capabilities are pretty awesome. It throws you some head scratchers and things break on it, but that's when you get to.... be a pilot and build that experience in adverse situations. After all that's what the regionals are for... right?

Don't let equipment be your number one priority, and definitely don't quit an airline because you can't stay in the shiny new jet. Suck it up, upgrade in the Q and get that 121 PIC. Also if you're in the jet now, chances are you're flying with senior guys that will bag on the company, tell you how crappy the Q is and how lucky you are to go right into the jet. They're probably also telling you that upgrading in the Q might lead you to a 121 failure, just don't let it happen. When you go through training study hard and learn the flows and you'll be fine. It will be a lot harder than the jet, but take it as a challenge. That's what I did when I went from Ejet to Q. Granted, right seat in any plane is obviously easier than the left seat transition..

As I read this I thought about the opening sequence to "Airplane!"

The "Jaws" theme music where the vert stab is poking thru the clouds swimming back and forth.