Celeste

Seems that for most people, sticking with a regional is better for their career atm. When i was at WIA, i asked UAL and delta this exact question if going to a LCC would give me a leg up. Neither said they cared about the airbus type. Both said PIC time in the 145 would be preferable to SIC in the airbus. They even said I'd be better sitting tight and building the 85 hours of sic a month I'm getting, than being out of the cockpit for training and reserve, etc.

IMO, let the shortage hit the LCCs. Maybe they will be forced to start paying a salary more competitive with the type of aircraft they operate.

Purpleanga

And legacies will have shorter upgrades now. All future CAs have already been hired at Spirit and frontier for their current orders. Look for 5+ year upgrades at spirit.

Papa Bear

Year 2 at B6 you can make pretty close to six figures if you work it right that's if you get the BUS.
The whole 1000 picT is yester years news. Not unless you are about to upgrade on a RJ and you want the experience then do it. If you don't at least have your resume out at ever airline that flies aircraft with type ratings that pay then you don't have a decision weather to leave or not.
I would rather have an Airbus, Boeing type and two years of seniority at XYZ than 1000 hrs on a RJ...

JB22

I'm hearing more and more that FOs who moved on to spirit and other low cost companies are having better luck at getting hired at legacy carriers due to them wanting to protect the regional feed. Why pillage from the regionals when you can plunder from the competition. Not sure what I will do.

flapshalfspeed

There are a lot of pilots who don't understand the difference between causality and correlation.

For example, lets say you have two pilot groups--one of which has 5,000 pilots and one of which has 1,000. United might hire 10% of each pilot group (500 from one--100 from the other), and then out on the internet forums you have a bunch of pilots from those companies claiming one regional is favored by United and the other isn't, when in fact it's simply math/chance--no selection bias at all.

There could be a "correlation but not causation" bias operating when ULCC pilots get hired at legacies in higher numbers than regional pilots. The people getting hired at Spirit--as a group, on average--likely have college degrees, were not satisfied with their regional, and/or have some money in the bank or a rich spouse allowing them to take that first year paycut and not starve. Add it all up and the group of people who have left regionals for ULCCs are likely a more "hireable" group than the average regional CA/FO, if that makes sense.

It is likely that there is no selection bias of regional vs. ULCC pilot at the legacies, but rather that the pilots who have left regionals for ULCCs are inherently more thirsty for career progress and/or hire-able than the average regional pilot.

Just a thought.

iFlyRC

It's not about pay, it's about QOL. A LCC often gives you a much higher QOL than a regional. Granted, every regional can be comfortable enough once you reach a certain point, to not be thirsty. Even so, the party is coming to an end, better to get out now.

SmitteyB

In reality, JetBlue is not a Low Cost Carrier. Neither is Southwest.

I think a more accurate classification would be-

Legacies, Majors, LCCs, and regionals.

Car Ramrod

Thanks for the answers fellas. I work at Spirit and I personally wouldn't leave a regional for a ULCC unless I already have my 1000TPIC (and I could afford te pay cut). Even then I'm not sure if it helps you move on to a legacy. We have lost a few pilots to the Legacies but I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with Airbus SIC time.

rickair7777

I think this will become more of a factor as time passes. As hiring ramps up, regional CEO's are going to be pleading with their major partners to NOT hire their pilots.

In a crunch it's obviously better to hurt your low-cost competition that your own regional feed. No-brainer.

For the noobs...yes this has happened before.

And there's a difference between an ULCC and an LCC.

rickair7777

At SKW the general attitude seems to be young FO's and some junior CA's are willing to go to ULCC's and ACMI on the assumption that it's a stepping stone with better pay than regionals.

Most CA's are not willing to take a big pay cut that could last for many, many years. I wouldn't do it because I would never make up the pay until I upgraded at a ULCC and who knows how long that might take.