Originally Posted by ZapBrannigan

My cut off to be at my "destination" airline was 40 and I made it 3 months after my 40th birthday. Mostly wanted time in the left seat to squirrel away money for retirement. I turn 48 this year and there are still around 1600 FOs senior to me, and only a couple hundred retirements per year.

Hoped I could upgrade by 50, but that seems overly optimistic. Maybe by 55? Sad to think that after doing this since I was 23 years old I could finish with only 10-12 years in the left seat. (Presuming I can hold a medical that long)


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Originally Posted by jetset

I disagree. In June we only have 800 or so EXTOs to recall. They can do that in a few months. We will be profitable by the end of the year and probably hiring again soon. Upgrades will come back quickly as well.

Originally Posted by RJSAviator76

Holy cow!!! What'd you do to my buddy Eeyore?? You dropped the upgrade time from 25 years to 15!! Who are you and where's my buddy???

Originally Posted by jetset

I disagree. In June we only have 800 or so EXTOs to recall. They can do that in a few months. We will be profitable by the end of the year and probably hiring again soon. Upgrades will come back quickly as well.

Originally Posted by ZapBrannigan

My cut off to be at my "destination" airline was 40 and I made it 3 months after my 40th birthday. Mostly wanted time in the left seat to squirrel away money for retirement. I turn 48 this year and there are still around 1600 FOs senior to me, and only a couple hundred retirements per year.

Hoped I could upgrade by 50, but that seems overly optimistic. Maybe by 55? Sad to think that after doing this since I was 23 years old I could finish with only 10-12 years in the left seat. (Presuming I can hold a medical that long)


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Originally Posted by saab2000

I was pretty senior at a regional when I left. I never stopped trying and got hired at Sun Country when it became clear that the big legacies weren't likely to hire me after updating my apps monthly for a decade or more and attending career fairs, etc. Admittedly, I didn't have certain resumé builders like a masters degree or chief pilot experience or even check airman titles. I was just a regular, high-hour captain on the CRJ.

Even at my age of 49 at the time it was still worth it. First, I have pretty deep ties to the Twin Cities so it was happy for me to make a change to be there. And even though they're not a major airline really, they fly larger equipment, which was something I wanted to do. So even with the pay cut I made the jump. Then on a whim about 7 months in I filled out the Southwest application and stunningly, to me at least, interviewed and was offered a job. I had never for one minute considered Southwest Airlines as a destination for myself. But it has been a mostly good experience and I'm glad to be here.

I have been here now 4 years and I'm 54 years old. I hope to upgrade before I call it quits. I'm currently out on the ExTO leave but expect to be recalled far sooner than the 5 years I opted to take off, maybe I'll even be back in 2021.

The bottom line is that at this age stability was more important to me than overall earning potential. I don't live an extravagant lifestyle and have no family, so I don't need a huge pay. The extra money is nice though. It's better than a regional by the time you're on 2nd year pay. I moved to domicile because I can't stand commuting and all that goes with it but everyone has their own decision to make.

I don't regret coming to Southwest for a second and recommend making a change if possible if for no other reason than career stability but you need to know about your own airline. The one I was at has been stable for decades but operates old CRJs and I don't know that any regional other than Skywest has a 'guaranteed' future. Obviously, there are zero guarantees in life and especially in aviation, but I wanted as much stability as possible in the latter part of my career and Southwest seems to be providing that.

Starting over with good seniority and as an older pilot isn't easy but for me it's been 100% worth it. I sleep better at night knowing my company will likely exist next week and next month. Most regionals can't be quite as certain about that.

Originally Posted by DownAndDirty

I can't imagine any young FO here would follow the dangling seniority carrot to AA/DL/UA after the past year. Sure, we were threatened with a furlough, but I think most will agree that was just posturing to get more cash from Congress. I think everyone else would also agree that we're more stable than any of the other majors and that we're on the offensive, adding new destinations almost monthly now. Sure, sitting on my ass on widebody reserve sounds great, but there's no chance in hell I'd take that chance and move to the bottom of the seniority list of a less stable airline.

Originally Posted by DHC8DRV

But for some their ego just can’t handle being stuck in a guppy for 25+ years