Hi guys
I am a "senior" (25y-o
) ATR f/o at a subsidry of a certain European national airline and have a similar problem as "Foggydownhere" in the "Jet f/o vs. TP capt" thread - although I have 3 options:
a) ATR left seat in close future
b) EMB-145 right seat in the mainline
c) A-320 or 737 right seat in a lo-co
Option a) seems to be the worst - especially that the T&C's suck big time and so does the lifestyle (although I'd fancy the fourth stripe and all that comes with it). So, the choice is really between b) and c). Option b) seems more logical - however the future of the "mainline" is rather ambiguious. It might of course expand quickly, which might mean a fairly quick transition to the all new 787 (yeah!), which is due to come in short future. On the other hand, many signs show that the said airline might as well share the fate of Swissair, Sabena, Olympic and the likes. This means spending several years in on the r/h seat of an ERJ without any warranty of an upgrade in a forseeable future. The third option is joining one of the quickly expanding lo-cos. This means moving to a
real jet right here, right now and possibly getting a quick jet command (no more than two years at this rate of expansion). The drawbacks are more work for similar money (but hey! That means more experience!), less extras (no unions, not much of staff travel etc.) and less job security. My ultimate goal is to drive the heavy iron to places far far away... If I stay with the mainline I'm in the queue for the (somewhat elusive) 787. Joining a lo-co means leaving from the regional jungle for the shiny jet world. An A-320 is not far from the A-330/340...
Any thoughts?