How does flying for the regional companies compare to moving on to the major airlines? Not money wise, more about what the flying is like and the layovers and differences between the two. My dad flies for United so I can see what it is like but he got hired straight out of the military and didn’t go through the regionals. What is it like coming up through the regionals?
Mike,
The regionals tend to fly shorter legs and fly more flights per day. They also tend to go to smaller cities. However, this does not mean that the flying is any less enjoyable, it is just different. Take a look at Tory’s schedule to see what his flying looks like as it is pretty representative of regional flying.
I personally really enjoyed my time at the regionals, I liked the smaller cities and felt that I gained a huge amount of experience while I was there.
Chris
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Mike,
I would also like to add that the hotels at the majors are much nicer 
Tory
Mike,
As always it depends. To disagree with both Chris and Tory, when I was at ExpressJet we stayed at some really nice hotels and now that I fly Hawaiian Interisland I fly much shorter legs than I did at the Regional. I actually really enjoyed Regional flying. Great airplane (EMB145), great crews and great trips. I got to see almost the entire United States and got a great appreciation for our country. I was also exposed to every conceivable climate, weather and terrain. Mountains, deserts, thousand mile lines of thunder storms, tornados, hurricanes, bitter cold, snow and ice. I consider myself to be a pretty good pilot and I credit my experience with ExpressJet for that.
Adam
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Thanks Chris, that’s exactly what I was wondering about!
Thank you Adam! It looks like you and Chris both had a great experience with ExpressJet for the regionals! I see they are also a part of the tuition reimbursement program which is great!