When looking into a regional how much weight does a fast upgrade weigh, rather than build time as an FO? Do ULCCs hire from the right seat? Asking because I have a class date at XJT and a AA WO.

121 pic time is of course much more valuable than sic time, but upgrade times can and do change at a moments notice for many reasons, mostly lack of attrition and shrinkage/no growth. Who’s to say it Envoy will have a quick upgrade in the future. That being said, go to where you can live in base and be happy even if the music stops and you’re an FO for 3 years. The quick upgrades of today should only slightly weigh your decisions...and yes you can get hired at an ULCC from the right seat. If and when hiring at Delta picks up I can see it becoming very easy to get hired at an ULCC with 1000 121 hours.

Spirit, frontier a jblu have both taken many of my shops fo's after alot a gyeae of line flying. They are all recruiting aggressively at my shop.

Because my shop has a flow most captains within 2 years are sticking around for legacy pay but the FOs are leaving in droves. We are extremely short on FOs right now. Summer flying is going to be interesting.

Thanks and out of curiosity, where’s ya shop?

It is a very long career, investing in pain to get 1000 TPIC early has a greater long term potential. Things have a way of changing and when they do you want to be the most competitive you can.

Well, that depends on the age when you started. Some people only have 20 years or less, in that case going to an LLC where you have a chance to upgrade before getting to the mandatory retirement age is a lot better pay wise then being stuck as an FO at a legacy.

Not necessarily. Look at ULCC CA rates compared to legacy widebody FO. You can reasonably expect to achieve either seat in about the same time from new hire. Legacies are all around the 4-5 year mark now for NB CA. DAL 717 CA can be had in a year. Of course, everything can change tomorrow.

And if the LLC goes down in 8yrs and you didn’t get the PIC you maybe unemployable. There is always a lot of variability in aviation but having the PIC gives you more options when things go south.