Thank you very much for the quick and overwhelming response. It sounds like I will be pursuing the regional route and keep building and working my resume on that side.

If you need the cash flow can you do the sim job on the side?
Don’t delay the regional path, which is probably your best path towards the airlines, to get sim qualified. If they can work around your schedule fine. If not - press.

Update your applications when you get hired at X. Update them again when you get your type rating. Update them again when you get line qualified. Former military guy got contacted after each of these steps.

And airline jobs aren’t indentured servitude. If ‘not #1’ hires you, which is frequently the case because we don’t choose them, they choose us, you can still apply at a better choice, to include #1, but at some point the value of staying at the current job exceeds the value of leaving.