Not all 135 and corporate pilots want to be airline pilots. I only made the switch when the starting airline pay came up enough to justify the jump. Depending on the 135 or 91 job there are a lot of upsides to include schedules, corporate credit cards, rental cars, nice hotels, ball games, etc (there actually are really good operators out there).

Most people hiring regional pilots have an incentive to jeopardize regional feeds and even DL/AA/UA have an incentive to hose their competitors.

But everyone is looking for talent - I suspect 91/135 backgrounds will get more attention. And I suspect 91/135 pilots will be much more interested if interviews are plentiful and rapid seniority progression is a given.

The problem with those cush 91/135 gigs is that they’re great until they’re gone. Owners die, decide to sell the plane and go with Flex or Netjets instead, etc. And when that happens, there’s no government scheme to save your job like you’ll get at the airlines.

And those unicorn 91/135 gigs are the extreme minority, anyway. Unless you’re someone who genuinely enjoys wandering the country for weeks at a time with little predictability and (let’s get real) no family, the airlines are gonna be better than the vast majority of 135 gigs.

Had a good friend with his *dream* part 91 job. Flying a great airplane around the world for a great client. Pay was amazing.

The client's wife lost her passport in Austria, and when landing back in the states, they got delayed by Immigration because she didn't have her passport. She said that she had given it to the pilot and it must be his fault (which was not true). All of the pilots got fired and they were all replaced with more "dependable" pilots. Have heard similar stories about pilots getting fired because they had a bird strike on final causing damage to the airplane.

That is the reality of being a corporate pilot. You are completely expendable.

Airlines vs not, twin vs single, catholic vs protestant

if airline jobs get “better” there will be a flow of talent toward 121. 2022 looks to be an easy time to get hired and will probably be the front of a wave.

Cute story.

On the contrary I know Pt91 corporate pilots who have wrecked the bosses Falcon being dumb. He punished them by buying a Global Express and giving pay raises.

Also there is the stigma, how many 121 pilots were turned down in covid or before simply because they were 121 or had an airline background. Those people sit on hiring boards and dont forget. This is the unfortunate downside.

Important concept:

91/135 has to be considered in the context of a career in that industry, ie your job is probably not your career. Anecdotal stories about unicorn jobs are not informative of YOUR career.

A 121 job is also usually your career for almost all majors, so once you get there you can relax. Since there's nothing you can do about war, recession, pandemic, etc no point in worrying too much. Worst case, you'll get recalled in a few years.