The Reddit thread raises a question increasingly common among regional airline first officers: whether a mid-20s pilot with roughly 2,400 total hours, 815 hours as SIC in the Airbus A320, and 870 turbine hours is competitive for a legacy or major carrier hiring board, or whether the better career move is to pursue a captain upgrade at the current regional once eligible at 1,000 hours. The poster also holds a bachelor's degree and disclosed a single checkride failure on the initial CFI certificate—a data point that, in isolation, is rarely disqualifying but does factor into how hiring boards weigh an application relative to peers with cleaner records. The pilot has applications pending at legacy carriers throughout the year without any response, and is planning to attend the Latino Pilots Association (LPA) conference in September in hopes of a face-to-face networking opportunity.
This scenario illustrates the current bottleneck facing pilots at the lower end of the seniority-and-hours spectrum as major carrier hiring has cooled markedly from the frenetic pace of 2022–2023. During that period, total time minimums at some majors dipped low enough that pilots with 1,500–1,800 hours and minimal turbine PIC time were receiving conditional job offers. That window has largely closed. Delta, United, American, and Southwest have all slowed hiring in 2024 and 2025 amid fleet delivery delays from Boeing and Airbus, macroeconomic uncertainty, and a general normalization of pilot supply following the post-pandemic hiring surge. For a pilot with under 1,000 hours of PIC or turbine PIC time and no legacy interview history, the "silence" the poster describes after a year of applications is consistent with broader industry data showing longer processing times and fewer new-hire classes at major carriers.
The strategic question—chase a captain upgrade now versus wait and hope for a legacy call—is one of the most consequential decisions a regional FO makes, and it hinges heavily on factors outside the pilot's control, particularly reserve utilization and quality of life at the current carrier. A captain upgrade builds PIC time, which is weighted heavily by legacy hiring boards and opens doors to fractional, cargo, and lower-cost carrier lateral moves if legacy hiring remains soft. However, new captains at regionals are frequently placed on reserve for an extended period, and reserve line flying can be unpredictable, sometimes yielding fewer flight hours and more schedule disruption than a seasoned FO line. The poster's uncertainty about "how much flying I'll be doing on CA reserve" reflects a legitimate concern: an upgrade that results in minimal actual flying may not meaningfully improve a hiring profile compared to staying an FO and accumulating additional turbine SIC time, especially if the regional offers premium pay or better trip trip-trading as an FO.
Attending an affinity-group conference like the LPA event for direct engagement with recruiters is an increasingly important tactic in a hiring environment where cold online applications yield little traction. Legacy carriers have expanded outreach through pilot development programs, ambassador programs, and diversity-focused pipelines, and conference touchpoints often carry more weight than a stand-alone application sitting in an ATS queue. For working pilots and chief pilots at regionals, this underscores a broader industry trend: as major carrier hiring volume contracts, the differentiators for getting noticed shift from simply meeting minimum flight-time thresholds toward networking, upgrade timing, checkride record, and demonstrated career trajectory. Pilots in this hours range should expect the current environment to reward patience and strategic time-building over rapid application volume, and should weigh upgrade decisions based on realistic reserve utilization at their specific carrier and base rather than assuming any one path guarantees a faster route to a major or legacy left seat.