Well, if that was your point, you probably shouldn't have started with "you're full of [expletive deleted] if you didn't take the first regional job that came along." I didn't, and I made the right call.
And I suppose I partially agree with you--I wouldn't say a regional job is "great" compared to what else is available out there for flying jobs, or at least
could be available in better times. Where I take issue with you is that I think that some regionals are better than others. Some situations are better than others. So according to the working conditions I could be experiencing in my regional work life, I have a great situation. I work for a great regional airline... for me.
I also take issue with your assertion that 99% of regional pilots would move on if they had the chance. In reality, for many people, that just wouldn't make sense. You should know this.
About people snubbing others because of the company they work for; It's not something that I personally make a practice of (as if I had anything to be prideful about in the first place!) , but people will be jerks, and you just can't control that. People will snub you, but you can't let it affect you. It's more of a commentary on the type of person that they are vs. a reflection of your status in the industry, and that's how you should look at it. So some CRJ FO thinks that they are now too good to make eye contact with me in the terminal. So what? Do I let it ruin my day? No way. Dude, you just need to chill.
I...if I was making $80K as a FO...had 15 days off every month...and a QOL...my regional then would be the best.
Yeah, and if I won the lottery I'd pay off all my student loans and then buy a 500,000 square foot house with a kidney-shaped pool and a tennis court and have a few cars and a boat and some dancing girls and.... a butler. Yeah, a butler. It'd be wierd at first but I think I could get used to it. And then Jeeves, Amber, and I could snub people as we drove around. I'd never have any problems again.
My point is that people perceive regionals as being "crappy" because they expect that by being a regional pilot they should be making $80k for being an FO, and it will never happen. I expect that I have years of dues paying ahead of me and hope to move on, yet understand that I work for a very well-run and solid company. I have a "great" situation with a "good" regional.
If you say "all regionals are crappy," it leads me to believe that you just aren't seeing the situation objectively. But I'll try not to snub you anyway.
-Goose