Part 91 and even 135 to an extent is a HUGE wild card. The pilot might be good, or a complete jackass. I've flown crewed turbine airplanes in 135, 91, and 121. 121 pilots are WITHOUT question consistently more knowledgable and capable pilots.

Before a bunch of people jump on me, I'm not saying 91/135 folks are a bunch of hacks. Not at all. But overall, the consistency is there with 121 (and the more structured 135/91k departments too I'm sure). Just my opinion though, from what I've personally seen.

I can see that you very badly want the answer to be yes. However as I said before, if you want to know what impresses recruiters you only have to look at who they're calling. The people that overwhelmingly being called have the following: PIC time in a 121, crm, multi-crew environment, in a 50k pound jet or large turbo-prop like a dash/q400. Can you get a call without this type of experience? Yes, but if I was giving career guidance to a little brother who wanted to eventually work for a legacy, I would tell him to go mil or regional asap.

You might catch some heat for this on here, but I for one agree with you. I personally know several people who busted out of 121 training and have since found employment at 135 gigs.

And would tell him to avoid the Strike/Fighter route too?

I'm guessing the context of the post you quoted in bold first was for the civilian route only.

Whats so difficult to understand? Mil or regional. I do believe fighters are flown in the military are they not? The only mil time that doesnt count that I know of is rotor.

Lets hope!!! I will make my first year at a regional (I'm at AWAC), my retirement of $42K + regional pay...makes it bearable I guess. I have quite a few buds who are retired military who went Regional, only option as not many were hiring. Hopefully it works out in our benefit.

The largest aircraft the guy I know who just got hired at Atlas flew was a Falcon 200. No prior 121 time. I also know plenty of 121 guys who applied to Atlas who weren't even acknowledged. Granted, this is freight, not legacy mainline, but its still part 121 heavy.

Not sure about the likes of FedEx and UPS, but it appears Atlas prefers guys with previous freight experience.

Its sad to see military guys having to do a stint at the regionals. What happened to the ex Vietnam pilots walking straight into the majors? It will be interesting to see how Delta treats these guys when they start hiring again.

I agree that a few years in the left seat at a regional checks most of the boxes at the majors, and that's where the majority of the applicants come from, but I won't accept that its the only way in.
If I were an instructor with around 1,000 hours, I would be keeping my options open before signing up for a year of top ramen and dirty crash pads.

While the regional route is not mandatory ( I didn't do it) it is typically will give you the best odds. I chose a narrow (mx,fe) corridor to go through and it worked for me, but I would not recommend it since the odds of making to a legacy this way are slim.

Not really sure what the value is of citing one guy who went to Atlas without 121 time. Statistically, it is an irrelevant datapoint.

That being said, keeping your options open is key to happiness in this business. My career has gone nothing like I thought it would. I had some doors open very early that I never dreamed of, and some things that I thought would be a certainty never happened.