Oh yeah, stay the fu*k out of the 1900! Pay, lifestyle, and bases mostly suck bad, and transition to the jet takes years. Yeah, you can get some PIC time, BUT if you read the websites of those majors who are now hiring, they all tend to specify 1000 turboJET (NOT turbine) and GW > 20,000.

Translation: They want to hire guys who are experienced in fast glass-cockpit airplanes and are specifically EXCLUDING 19 seat turboprop guys.

The old school wisdom was that ANY turbine PIC was the ticket, but this has changed and there are plenty of folks who apparently haven't got the word yet. Why suffer in the 1900 for 4 years and then have to do all the RJ time anyway? Mesa DOES NOT make it easy to switch airplanes. There are 1900 CA's senior to me who are still waiting for the RJ upgrade.

However, If you know somebody at SWA or Cathay, you might be able to in with 2000h 1900 PIC.