It truly is not hard to grasp. These are the facts
1) NJA, even with new TA, will ALWAYS pay much less than a comparable major. That’s fact. NJA year 7/7 will gross you around 75K all in including per diem year one. Every major will beat that. By year 2 majors FOs make PIC scales at NJA.
2) NJA has a generous 401K match, but the majors with DC or NEC or whatever you want to call it means major FOs by year three will top out 415 limits. You will NEVER get close to that at NJA. That’s DC plus Profit sharing into retirement at pilot contributions.
3) Scedule flexibility is a joke at NJA. None. Nada. Nope. Never. Sure you can PTO a day or two but that’s all you can pull off. Airlines can swap, drop, flip, trade so many options a sick call to get a day off is unheard of.
4). Benefits...a wash. NJA is free but majors offer more options and better options though it will cost you.
5) QOL...that’s subjective. Not touching it.
So let’s move on to something more important like which FBOs have the best toilets....