Heck, even the regionals that treat like crap don't really have a "quick" upgrade. The first CA upgrades in over 2 years finally got posted here at 9E. Most junior CA? 4 year mark, and she's not THAT junior to me. If I had hopped on the JFK bandwagon, I'd still be 7 from the bottom in base. That's the same place I am in MEM. The next several upgrades are likely gonna be the FOs that got stranded because they were waiting to hold a line instead of being abused on reserve. Well, the music is starting again, and they don't want to be left out. Those guys are in the 5-8 year range. Then there's the whole SLI with Mesaba that'll toss a wrench into the time table, too.
I upgraded ASAP at 9E for two reasons #1 I want out of here, and TPIC is a necessary thing to have in order to do that. Sure, you CAN get hired at Delta or jetBlue without it. However, it's an extremem rarity reserved for people with much better internal connections than I have. #2 I was tired of living on borderline food stamps even flying 95 hours a month.
Being stuck on reserve for as long as I have really beats into your head how the "Quick upgrade and out" philosophy has been the major driving force in what is known as "the suck" at the regionals. FOs don't care if their pay is low, because they'll be CAs soon. I know I was told this a number of times whenever I brought up the poor FO pay. "Oh, but just think! You'll be making CA pay in a year!" Tell that to the poor SOBs that have been slugging it out for 2+ years on reserve as FOs here. They may see the right seat in a few years if they can stick it out.
Even when you DO upgrade, the "quick out" mentality is evident. The senior guys don't care about reserve because to them, it was an event that lasted a few months, if it happened at all. They play the "Just pay your dues" card. However, it's tough finidng any senior guys that spent 3 years on reserve. Some of our guys have been on reserve 5 since they came in essentially street CAs. They're CLOSE to holding a line, but with no movement, #1 reserve and #55 on reserve don't really have a lot of difference in them. As a result of this mentality, work rules suck for reserves. The FOs didn't spend much time on reserve, the CAs didn't, so why bother wasting negotiating captial? Easy. Times have changed.
Don't go chasing a job based on quick upgrade. I came to 9E because I didn't want to commute. I'm one of the LUCKY ones that upgraded and actually held on to his seat and base through numerous displacements. You never know what will happen. If the price of oil spikes, all those majors that are forecasting to hire could go right back to parking their "growth" airplanes in the desert or deferring their deliveries.....again.
