A recent question I have found myself asking, is whether would it be more beneficial to work at a regional with a flow like Endeavor or Envoy, or go to a major player like Frontier to get your type rating and aircraft familiarity if you want to end up at a legacy?
I am looking at Endeavor mainly for the connection and DGI with Delta, and Frontier for the aircraft types and pay as well.
My concerns are being stuck at the regional level for a long time (but that is expected), then getting PIC time, and basically being stagnant in that role for a while. I know airlines look for the PIC time as an important indicator so that seems important to get it ASAP. There are also those pilot retention bonuses at Endeavor, but their pay is almost half of some of the other regionals and Frontier.
As far as Frontier, looking at info on Airlinepilotcentral, it would take several years (4-15 dependent on base) to just get to be a captain whereas at Endeavor it should only take 24 mos to become CA. But you have the type rating in the A320 family and I figure that would be useful as well.
They both seem good, and with the recent contracts increasing regional pay, I would only imagine EDV would boost pay since they say “industry-leading” but it is currently less than some of the other Regionals (at least on the site).
Obviously QOL and all that comes into play, but for the purpose of the post, what would the Legacies prefer more, or what may weigh more in getting an offer from a Legacy?