At B6, realize too that Long Beach is a 320 only base, so if you get the E190 out of training you'll be seat locked on it (and thus commuting to BOS or JFK) for 2 years.

In my class the 190 actually went pretty senior, but that's not normal. Bids from training are awarded based on age, and since you can't predict where you'll fall in the class, I'd be prepared for a cross country commute for a minimum of 2 years.

JetBlue has been great for me, and I really like knowing my company has never furloughed a pilot or declared Chapter 11. But I live on the east coast and have a 1 leg on-line commute. Your mileage WILL vary.

Here are the retirement numbers for LGB captains. There are roughly 120 captains in LGB.

2016 - 0
2017 - 3 (3) 2.5%
2018 - 3 (6) 5.0%
2019 - 1 (7) 5.8%
2020 - 2 (9) 7.5%
2021 - 2 (11) 9.2%
2022 - 4 (15) 12.5%
2023 - 5 (20) 16.7%
2024 - 11 (31) 25.8%
2025 - 6 (37) 30.8%
2026 - 4 (41) 34.2%
2027 - 3 (44) 36.7%
2028 - 4 (48) 40.0%
2029 - 5 (53) 44.2%
2030 - 12 (65) 54.2%
2031 - 8 (73) 60.8%
2032 - 12 (85) 70.8%
2033 - 7 (92) 76.7%
2034 - 8 (100) 83.3%
2035 - 11 (111) 92.5%
2036 - 4 (115) 95.8%
2037 - 1 (116) 96.7%
2038 - 0 (116) 96.7%
2039 - 1 (117) 97.5%
2040 - 1 (118) 98.3%
2041 - 1 (119) 99.2%
2042 - 0 (119) 99.2%
2043 - 1 (120) 100.0%

This list includes those who are out on some kind of leave as well as management pilots.

Don't get overly excited about the percentages...37 captains retiring in the next 10 years.

Also note that future captain vacancies in LGB will not necessarily be filled by LGB F/O's. Plenty of pilots here biding their time out east waiting to be a line-holding LGB captain.

Yeah....there's also Skywest and boutique air as well. It sounds like the OP is concerned with Alaska's very slow growth. If that's the case VX probably isn't on his radar.

14 month JetBlue guy here so I can offer a perspective. Hired Nov 2014 so I'll give my 2015 earnings (the first full year and that included 6 months of JFK reserve; I'm on the bus):

Gross: 64771 (included the $6000 new hire bonus-no longer available):
Included:
Ground holding:$22
Junior assignment:$55.90
E-learning:$158
Night override (red eye bump):$2511
Profit Sharing:$2543
Medical Allowance:$125

Did NOT include $3940 in non- tax per diem.

Putting aside that during phase II, I was required to "go get 200 hours more recency of experience at a regional" to augment my 10,000 hours (this is a long story told here many times, but I was a FlightSafety instructor at the time with prior 121 CA experience and turbine PIC but only 125 hours in the last 12 months) I'll give you my perspective (I have to put the bitterness of 5 months at a regional at $400 a week behind me-as well as the 125 seniority numbers it cost me to give you an honest assessment). During this time my wife was also really sick so that added to the stress.

I like B6. It's a tough commute from DFW because I'm off line. I'm also not a big fan of the red eyes - a commuter's dream but proven to have a tremendously deleterious effect on health, fitness, and nutrition. But it is what it is. I'm a 45 year old guy that lives in Dallas (that's now Airbus typed with 700 hours in the last 12 months). So the only thing that makes sense for me at B6 is the "quick" upgrade. And that's my plan. Even with an inexorable life of reserve. Without the upgrade I'd ultimately do better locally at AA or SWA (or heck, even elsewhere). But again, pretty happy with B6 as a whole and plan to remain. At the very least I'm planning on moving to a JetBlue city to commute online.

If you plan on commuting find out about the commuter policy....Alaska is very anti- commuter.....our policy is only good on mainline Alaska(no skywest/horizon) and it requires two flights with open seats prior to show. So that eliminates everything east of Denver. We also have to pick our city pairs and you are only allowed one set......