Do I have to go to church in order to work for a holy owned?

Some don't want to flow over because they don't have many years left. Some junior pilots who are older probably won't be able to flow by the time their number is called up. Flew with a FO who was 62 and has at least 6+ years before his number would be called up.

Why waste QOL factors to hop over to a major to start at a new pay scale, reserve and most likely not live on base.

After 12 years at my current airline, I have 28 days vacation. Excellent health care coverage and I get decent schedules. Plus my payrate is $95.42/hr.
Although I have to consider my options since we are unsure of the future, leaving will be difficult as the huge cut in pay, benefits and schedules would occur.
Some are at regionals because they're comfortable there. Some got stuck during the recession of 2008 and some just don't interview well. So don't pick on the lifers. Some are probably there no by choice.

I think that everyone here understands this. Just like they understand that it would not be surprising if any current regional went out of business 24 months from now.

It is a gamble. That is all.

For most guys that are senior it's more about QOL than money. 150k for working less than 120 days a year is not a bad gig. No weekends, no holidays and max days off it doesn't get much better. The grass is not always greener on the other side!!!

This is true^

With all that time off, side businesses can also be founded which can pull in even more income on top of that $150k

Yep and several of us made great money on ASA stock years ago and continue today on Skywest. It's about the end game. If you have your retirement funded why give up the QOL?

Spouces make good money too for a lot of lifers. Combined they would make way more than even some Major CAs. Make good money living in EWR at United or stay in your crappy regional so your wife can keep the gravy train rolling? Tough decision.

I get that QOL is what is keeping most lifers in the regionals but I'm 1 year in at a major and holding holidays and weekends off and I think that's a pretty common theme these days. unless I were 55 or older I think I'd at least entertain the idea of moving on.

Apparently you are not familiar with the history of Comair.

Ok. I'll start. Chicago Express. Big Sky. Midwest Express (Skyway).
Colgan. Executive. Business Express. Lynx. Etc. feel free to add.

BizEx Lifers ended up at AA if they chose to do so. Not a bad result. Colgan saw an improvement as well IMHO.

Being owned by Delta means everything!

Welcome to Delta Academy Connection

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Great question ? Can I also ask you what version of flight simulator you are currently playing as well ?

Well for the longest time I was running FS9. Better performance, more mod support, much wider range of add on aircraft. FSX has FINALLY caught up, so I notified my VA (Virtual American, thank you) that I would running the new software. Now that some of the bugs have been worked out, I have a better computer to run it on, and the modding scene improved I've been strictly on the current version.

What software are you on? FSX? Oh no, you aren't an xPlane nerd are you?

Fsx. I actually can master the 747 and 380. I practice my flows everyday. I have my own virtual flight crew and do long hauls across the globe on the weekends just for fun. No big deal.

Dropping 747's from B-52 motherships and shuttle re-entries are where it's at. You haven't really flown an F-4 until you've folded its wings in flight. In fact, Flight Sim doesn't even have Mars flying!

Yup, PSP...

Welcome to "the club".

If you want it hang in there. I was thinking the same thing until the email came back in April. Network, update and keep smiling. Good things will happen.

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envoy has their fair share of old lifers. They are boring as hell too!

Put the pipe down. Put it down.

There's a difference between "planning" to be lifers and "going" to be lifers.

I'd guess at least 1000 at SKW (voluntary + involuntary), unless the regional industry really gets turned on it's ear and becomes unrecognizable or non-existent.

This!
........

I know there are a fair number of senior CA's at PSA who live in/around Knoxville, so moving on to AA through the flow would mean spending the last 5 years or so of their career commuting. Yes the pay would go up considerably over time but for some you just can't beat living where you want to live and also being a short drive from your base.

Over time and through constant struggles, the urge not to upset ones quality of life treads deeper. I cannot find fault in anyone who chooses to stay a "lifer". All the best of luck to anyone who wishes to stay high on the seniority list. It's frankly not a bad place to be compared with many other jobs, aside from the threat of one's regional going under..... Everyone must follow their own path

Is Knoxville a senior base?

I am amazed, though, when I fly with certain mid-seniority CAs, and when I ask if they want to bail, they say "Heck yes, I can't stand this place." Then I ask them if they're updating their apps and/or are attending job fairs.

I've heard variations on the following reply so many times:

"Update my apps? Yeah, a couple years ago. Job fairs? Heck no. If they want me, they can call me."

There clearly are folks who want to move on but aren't putting in the effort...but can't bring themselves to admit that they're going to be at OO until they retire.

Which isn't a bad thing by any means. Everyone's priorities are different. If you live in base, are near the top of the seniority list, and have a side business or a spouse with solid income, it may not make sense to trade that for commuting to reserve at the bottom of a legacy's seniority list.

Which appears to be very much in line with some of the numbers once hears. Allegedly the legacies have somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 apps on file of which 9,000 or so are current (updated etc.). Maybe 75% of those are regional pilots vs. what 19,000 total or so.... (Just a guess on my part)

So, yes, there are many folks who are not trying that hard for whatever reason - which is perfectly OK too.

Not overly so, but there's just a cluster of people who live there who are very senior on the list. I'm sure Dayton has some as well. There are people who live near CLT who also aren't going to flow, but the not wanting to commute excuse doesn't hold as much water since at mainline they could hold CLT at some point.

Sure it does. If you only had 5 or so years until you retire, why would you start commuting? Especially to CLT. Most of the guys I know that have flowed that were TYS based are in PHL anyways. And the really senior CA's in Knoxville are maxed out on pay, which would be a lot more than the 12 year cap. It would be a huge loss in qol for them to flow.