Better upgrade than EAGLE??? Lots. Unless something has changed since I last talked to my eagle friend the eight year ERJ FO. Please correct with me recent numbers if I'm wrong.

Skywest: Guys have upgraded to 50 seat jet CA in 18 (or less) months last year.
Mesa: 18-24 months.

These upgrades times obviously depend on being willing to go WHEREVER, be on reserve, and on having ATP mins. Everybody from my eagle interview group that I kept in touch with quit after 6-8 months to go somewhere else. I had two job offers, and took the other one. Now if you already have a lot of years at eagle the benefits are certainly good, and it is remotely possible that you might flow up to AA mainline in 70-80 years. Do they still even do that?

I also heard that AA mainline was negotiating to move all RJs > 50 seats to mainline...that would REALLY enhance eagle upgrade times.

Don't tell us what HAS happened, let's look at what will happen in the future. The days of rapid upgrade at the decent regionals is gone for the near future IMO.

True, I think 2004-2005 was a growth spurt.

BS ALERT!

Lowest REALISTIC pay for a reserve Mesa RJ CA (50 seat) would be $52,000 (some of which is non-taxable per diem). If you went a whole year and NEVER FLEW ONCE and NEVER SAT READY RESERVE (LOL) , it would be about $50,000.

I don't know if you're bitter or something, but I'm here spending my time to try to help inform people who are trying to make decisions. You (and I) are stuck with the decisions we made, but posting lies and BS won't really justify your situation or help anyone else. Are you trying to fool yourself into thinking that as a 6 year eagle FO you make more than a 2 year mesa captain? I am certainly NOT a big Mesa advocate (read my other posts), but it is far better than some other options. For me, the eagle interview was a fallback position only, actually taking the job would have been an act of desperation.

In my opinion eagle's only redeeming quality is that it could be useful for someone who needs some more multi or turbine time to get the job they really want. This is not an indictment of eagle pilots in any way, just the situation facing a new hire today. Many long-time eagle FO's got hired pre-9/11 and obviously had different expectations compared with today...

Thats what Air Canada did back in 95. Facing layoffs while their regionals were hiring lots of pilots. So Air Canada decided to take the RJ's so they could start hiring again instead of their regionals hiring. They ended up hiring almost half their regional pilots in the process. Those pilots were extreamly lucky.
If AA does it, there will be a bunch of happy senior eagle pilots that will get on with AA

Weeell...there's some question as to whether the eagle flow-through program is still even in effect, or if it is guaranteed in the long run. Does anybody know for sure?

Bridge Program at LaTech
 

Guys, If I heard correctly, Louisiana Tech University (part 141) has a bridge program with CoEx (or at least is nearing one). Of course I could be wrong, I'm an alum from there working with Pinnacle.
If anyone would like some info about LaTech let me know. Its a really good education, small campus, Top 10 aviation school.

AA will NEVER take Eagle pilots if they don't have too. APA HATES Eagle and would do everything in their power to screw over the Eagle pilot group. Hell, APA screws over its junior guys too. I've never seen a pilot group "eat its young" like APA does. APA would be more than happy to take 70 - 100 seat RJ's but would want them only flown by AA pilots. The only trick is to get the APA folks to agree to a practical rate.

Also, even if AA stuck to the flow agreement that has already been in place and is due to expire (I believe next year) most of the senior guys wouldn't go. They are either making more money than they would when they flow up and are only 10 to 15 years of retirment, or their ego just would not allow them to sit the dummy seat for an AA captain. Trust me, there is A LOT of bad blood between AA and Eagle pilots (just the way AMR likes it).