Is TSA the best airline for me?
 

I’m currently about 5 months from reaching ATP Mins. I’m looking to reach 1,000 turbine PIC as quickly as possible, regardless of QOL/pay. I’m single and have no family/financial obligations other than rent/food. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it to a Legacy carrier within the next 3-6 years. Is TSA the best airline to work for if career progression is my main priority? I currently have offers from EDV/PSA/REPUBLIC.

My recommendation is PSA. You’ll have flow in your back pocket and you can apply everywhere while waiting for the flow. If you go to TSA, you can all but scratch AA off your list.

Not dissing PSA, but there may be some "things" happening over the next few months at TSA and TS Holdings that could prove quite interesting in terms of career progression. Currently we have the Frontier flow, and there may be some other opportunities in the future once UAL gets its pilot contract sorted out. I'd keep my powder dry as long as possible until this gets resolved in the next couple of months.

The answer to your question is YES. Even better if you can find someone you know who works here and see if they will split the referral bonus with you...

Can you expand on what some of these upcoming “things” are? :)

Decide in 5 months. Things change quick in this industry.

Why’s that?

I believe he's referring to the minimal chance that a pilot at a non-WO (not just TSA) has at landing a job at AA. I believe the last figure I saw was 5% that weren't rated military aviators or WO. Less than half of that 5% were pure civilian. Granted this is from another post on these forums so take it with a massive grain of salt but it lines up with everything else I've read.

Gotcha. So are people going to WO as a street captain or CQFO then moving to majors like AA?

AA claims that in the future is is only hiring pilots from the military and its affiliates with a flow. We'll see if that happens in reality.