J3, point I'm trying to make: I got a CPL at the arse end of 89' saw the way pilots behaved toward each other & decided piloting wasn't for me. Didn't fly for ten years, got back on the bike, worked commercially, realised that things were probably worse than my original decision early 90's. I had plenty of work available to me & I'm talking ME-IFR, night. I went down another track, earn't pretty good money and now fly on my terms, NOT Alan Joyce's.
You are working in a very volatile market. Your $135 gorillas could disappear tomorrow & I think you know it. Mix that with the latest generation to enter the workplace (my previous post) and the future for your industry doesn't look particularly bright.
Back to my point, nobody has me by the balls, not Joyce, not my present employer. If the show ended tomorrow, I'll be right. But that's from being patient & putting in a few hard yards.
I have a daughter that wants to fly, I continually say to her. Get another qualification first (which she is doing). Don't ever give anybody power over your future. Don't let some other bastard write your life story. Write it yourself.