A quick and dirty breakdown of the US regionals for those too "busy" to look it up themselves, filtered through the vitriol and bias of another humble Yank pilot. All figures and upgrade times are subject to change without notice, and keep in mind that this is more about blowing off steam than actually informing anyone:
Air Wisconsin: Once upon a time, it was
the regional to work for. Pay is still good relatively speaking, but work rules are eroding, and the once-happy pilot group seems more ticked by the day. 2-3 year upgrade likely to become longer with their future USAir flying in doubt.
American Eagle: Livable pay, Decent QOL, 7 (yes, seven) year upgrade, a painfully uncertain future with AMR dropping them. Those who went there with dreams of making it to mainline are disappointed. Still, it's hard to feel
really bad for a guy flying an ATR around the Caribbean.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA): With a freshly-negotiated contract in hand, they're actually one of the leaders in terms of pay scales. Work rules seem to be halfway decent. 3 year upgrade, or more with the turboprops out the door this year. The training department is overwhelmed, and everyone's more than a little nervous about a future as SKW's whipping boy. Hope you like Atlanta.
Big Sky: Oops, too late...
http://www.newwest.net/city/article/...service/C8/L8/
Colgan Air: Crap pay, crappier work rules, and the potential list merge with Pinnacle will almost certainly see the Colgan group getting the short end of an already short stick. There's a bit of an internal war going on over the Q400 as well. The short upgrade is likely to get worse soon, along with everything else.
Comair: Delta's been selling the place off piecemeal for years, and things just seem to be getting worse. Middling pay and QOL, upgrade times are long and getting longer. Still running a lot of newhire classes to cover attrition. Most newhires seem to have another regional picked out for when they get tired of all the fun here.
CommutAir: Small Dash 8 operator on the East coast. Pay sucks, attrition's high, and they're small enough to get stepped on by someone else. They lease all of their planes from another regional, which seems like a really good idea...
Compass: NWA's newest brainchild. I don't have much to say here, as the place is a total wild card right now. If they ever really get up and running, this might be a decent place to work someday. "Guaranteed" NWA flowthrough. Of course, with NWA and DAL walking down the aisle, I'd be huddled in a corner soiling myself. See Also: American Eagle flowthrough. Good work rules, just not much work to be done. By one account, pilots are flying about 20 hours a month until somebody figures out what the Hell's going on.
ExpressJet: Decent pay, probably the best work rules in the regional world, and a whole ton of time on the west coast. Sounds good, right? Well, if you haven't already noticed the recurring theme here, happy pilot groups don't stay happy for long. With the ugliness at CAL, they're heavily dependent on branded flying, a risky venture that's getting mixed results so far. Other regionals are circling, hoping to take more flying from them. Upgrades are getting longer, and they're not hiring much either. Certainly much worse choices out there, but XJT's best days are behind them.
GoJet Airlines: SCAAAAAAAAABS!
Great Lakes Airlines: Welcome to rock bottom! That's right folks, THE worst pay in the country! Work rules are essentially non-existent. Big ol' training bond, too. So what could possibly be good about this place? Upgrade at ATP mins, guaranteed DEN base, the opportunity to handfly raw data non-precision approaches to the nuts in the middle of a Rocky Mountain blizzard, and the potential to move on to greener pastures in record time. Not to mention the cast of characters you'll be flying with.
Gulfstream Airlines: If you're dumb enough to throw down $30,000 to "buy" a crappy job at at time when so many regionals are hiring fresh Commercial pilots, you probably shouldn't be allowed out of the house without a helmet.
Aaaaand I'm bored. I'll finish up later.