It is smoke and mirrors.

That's like saying my total compensation at McDonalds is $40,000 per year because I get 2 free meals per day. Would you consider that compensation? I wouldn't.

Having medical insurance doesn't help pay your student loan bill or rent.

It's false advertising.

There. That is a little more believable.

It's not false advertising. It's carefully crafted advertising. It may be sneaky, but it isn't false. It is total compensation. It may not be a dollar figure you see in you bank account, but it is a dollar figure that company puts up.


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No, your chances of being hired at any given major airline do not at all rest on which regional airline you fly for.

There are a lot of things to consider when choosing -- and many of them have been brought up in this thread -- but your question should not be one of the factors, because it just does not matter to the majors when deciding who to call for interviews.

Actually, yes, it does. If you're spending $400/month on a healthcare policy you're paying for yourself on an Obamacare exchange, vs. $100/month in healthcare costs while your airline picks up the other $300, that's $300/month more that you have available to pay other bills.

If you've always had healthcare through an employer, I can see how you'd think like this. If you've ever been self-employed, believe me, the lack of employer healthcare contributions most definitely changes your financial picture.

That's good to hear!

In the old days, I think that this was true. Now, it really does matter. If you want to work at AA, you have to work at one of the wholly owned. If you want to work at Delta, your chances are FAR greater if you work where there is a SSP (unless you have a masters degree and prior military time). United also seems to be really focusing on where they are hiring from.

Within a couple years, expect all of the regionals to be little more than a pipeline to a particular major.

Right now, you can get hired outside of a "flow" or preferential hiring if, and only if, you are special. If you are just another regional RJ FO that is just entering the industry, you don't stand much of a chance.

This is complete BS. OO guys are getting hired by all 3 legacies every month. Yes, even AA. Significant amounts every month to UA and DAL. Hiring is going to continue to pick up. How do you figure the big 3 will get MORE picky in the future on where they hire from?

Of course you are going to say that, because OO doesn't have any sort of an agreement with anyone.

It is really pretty simple. The major airlines really need regional feed. Even Delta will need regional feed. But, their choice to staff the regionals is going to be to raise pay significantly, or to have a flow thru/ssp type program.

If you are GUARANTEED a job at Delta in 5 years if you go and work for a certain company, and you wanted to work for Delta, where would you go as a new FO to the industry? It is common sense. They can pay you crap, you will still go and work there, and then you will move on to Delta.

My post was talking about someone entering the industry right now. There are no brand new FO's at OO that are immediately being picked up at AA. AA will no longer be hiring pilots off of the street in less than a year. The others will be following suit.

The size of the regionals will grow and shrink based on pilots available. The majors will get bigger to pick up the slack (like Delta and United are doing right now), but once regional feed is cheap again, they will slow hiring, let attrition bring down the number of pilots at mainline, and grow their regionals again. The regional pilots are the buffer in the system.

The regionals aren't going away as a B-scale feed. They are just being modified. Flow's will be the only way to get to a major. Wait a few years and you will see.