Hum...stay at a regional or go to a major?

[Kristie]

So, doug and I had a great conversation about this at lunch and he had a few points that i hadn't thought of, that might be useful to you in helping you two make this decision.

With those points, i've changed my stance on what i said earlier.

Doug's big point was that right now, united is just NOW starting to hire...he's betting they'll hire at least 200-500 or more pilots and if your dh gets into the hiring fringe now, by the time they're done hiring/training.. he'll have some really good seniority behind him which would help him stay off of any type of furlough list in the future. granted, gotta figure if United is hiring, they're not going to furlough soon (knock on wood)... so with 2-3 years of seniority behind him, he has a much better opportunity of staying in a static environment and not having to worry about being bumped out.

now, if united gets bought/merged with another airline.. well, we all know the airline business is risky..being a pilot is a risk in itself everyday... might as well ride the waves and try to get as far ahead as you can so as to prevent a pipeline wave from hitting you and the family.. granted, it's not 100% preventable but that's the risks we take in this industry...

he also mentioned that major/legacy airlines are much more stable (they're not running contract flying where everyone is constantly underbidding each other or taking away contract flying, like Xjet recently had with CAL), he thinks the regional life is going to get really difficult and to get up and out (into a major or somewhere more stabilized) as fast as you possibly can...and since the kids are young, it'll be easier for him to get thru training and get stabilized with a decent schedule before they get too much older (when he's needed/wanted home for bdays, special events etc). plus, i would think the benefits would be better (including travel & health benefits and opportunities on places to travel esp with united being so prominent in the pacific).

with those points and the fact that if he interviews now, gets hired in the first bit of hiring that united does... he'd be much better off than going for that PIC time that i thought would be beneficial... heck, if he gets hired at the beginning.. he won't even need to worry about PIC because he'll have so many guys underneath him and he'll have already done so much flying that it takes the PIC time right out of the picture, entirely.

So, i hope this helps some (more)! I know this is ultimately your decision and all, but it's good IMO to have some discussion on what could be best for a better future situation and i'm always glad to give what insight i know even considering that everyones lifestyle, family style etc are different.

I learned a lot today as we talked about upgrading/switching from regional to major and those advantages as well as professionalism in the industry and understanding more about how the jumpseat actually works since there were a few threads on JC that i didn't have enough information to really input (and wanted to know more). I like it when i learn a lot...things just start making more sense.