WO or no?
 

How much should a regional being WO affect the decision of which regional to go to? What about whether or not it's unionized?

I think flow is pretty big for today, tomorrow maybe nothing.
There are three legacies. The WO flow is really a pair of handcuffs to keep you unmotivated and wait your turn. Going to a non-WO means you have very little chance of AA, you've gone from 3 legacies down to a realistic 2. That is a huge % change.
So go to a WO and be motivated.

By the time you're ready to apply it won't matter. There's either going to be a global financial meltdown where nobody's hiring or you'll get multiple interviews due to the massive amount of pilot retirements coming. There's like 600 a year for each legacy for about 10+ years. It hasn't fully started yet.

Go to a WO but treat it as the flow is not there. Get your time and apply to your major of choice. Stay motivated, keep your logbook up and still work on your resume. If AA is your #1 choice a WO is your best bet unless you are a military pilot. You can also apply to AA outside of the flow but all civilian street hire is still in the 7-10k TT range to be competitive. And very small slots for street hires currently at AA.

At PDT we have mainline healthcare, travel, and profit sharing. All three are similar yet slightly different so best to talk to a pilot of each company to get a feel where you would like to go. Different bases, equipment, schedules, etc.

I'd look at the main advantage of working for either the Delta WO or an AA WO as being the job security more so than the flow. As time goes on and retirements sky rocket with little pilots coming into the industry to replace them, the regional airline landscape is going to get very interesting. You'll see some flying return to the mainline carriers, some regionals ceasing to exist and big consolidation of regional feed among the remaining carriers. The WOs will be among the last ones standing.

WO look very appealing today. Just a couple years ago, the thought of a WO conjured up memories of Comair. So who knows. You won't know the right answer till many years from now.

In today's environment with a bidding war for pilots leading to big bonuses and wage increases, having the financial backing of a major airline is a big plus. Non-WO airlines with fixed ASA's with majors are going to either have to squeeze more money out of other areas of their operations to boost pilot pay or hope they can convince their major partners to cough up more money to cover their increased costs.

So I guess when that day comes, United will just dust their hands off and say "Well... it was a good run!" The WO carriers will never have pay scales that match mainline. Maybe close, but not the same. The day they do, will be the day that ALL regionals will cease to exist.

Western, do you know what a legacy Airline is? There are five of them.

In five to ten years from now, none of this silly stuff will matter.