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Yes, there IS a difference. The "bottom feeders" are the first jobs a young pilot can reasonably expect to be hired at after leaving the CFI ranks, while the "well run" regional carriers are the jobs they often aspire to in their quest for a major airline job.
By the way... Just for chuckles, I looked up the pay scales for 2 of the more common paths young pilots follow to get the experience required to be competitive at a major airline. based on 1,000 credit hrs/yr, here's what I found;
Career path "A" - Total committment, relocation required every 2-3 years (no commuters). QOL virtually "nil" for the first year, improving only slightly over the term of service. Frequent overnights away from home. No union, full benefits. 10-year training contract
First year pay - $28,000/yr.
Second year - $37,000/yr
Fourth-year - $53,000/yr.
Career path "B" - Relocation advisable, but not required. QOL varies, improving in the 2nd yr. Some overnights. Some benefits. No training contract-you're free to leave for a better job anytime you like.
First Year pay - $23,000/yr
Second Year - $60,000/yr
Fourth Year - $62,000/yr
Obviously, "Career path A" is the military, but it might surprise you to know that "Career path B" is Go-Jet, one of the "bottom feeders" you feel we should be imploring young pilots to avoid?
No matter which path a person takes, the first 1,500 hrs of precious "jet time" come at great expense.
You're way off on your military pay scales. Almost nobody these days gets only base pay unless you're in basic training.
You forgot BAS/BAH, COLA, various specialty pay, imminent danger/hostile fire pay if you're deployed these days, bonuses for certain specialties, etc. Oh yeah, if you're deployed for more than 30 days I think it is... your income is tax-free.
Take Hawaii for example... if you live off-base and are married, you'll get a nice fat tax-free check for BAH/BAS and COLA (deployed or not), and for us, it's been enough to be paying our mortgage, maintenance fees, etc and still have some left over. This was not even touching the base pay.
Show me a regional that will do this. Hell, show me any airline that will do this.
Not even close..... try again.