Rank the Low-Cost Carriers

Speaking based on the state of things right now, you'll probably get a phone call the day after you get your A320 type rating so that'll be an easy goal. I'm surprised you weren't already hired by a legacy already with your time. It's true they aren't great financially but if you get there in the next year or two you'll still be on the front end of their hiring curve which'll be awesome for seniority. I wouldn't count on a merger but if they file bankruptcy who knows. I used to think AA was the worst off but lately I'm not so sure. They already consolidated their mainline fleet so really just have to pay down debt. They took a unique approach to preserving their feed network and will be hiring a ton. I think UAL might be slightly worse off financially/structurally speaking since they are about a decade behind in fleet planning. Pilots like to spread rumors, in reality the industry doesn't have a whole lot of business case left for additional consolidation. We used to have a dozen national airlines. Assuming B6 merger is approved, now we're down to 1 major ULCC, 3 legacies + southwest + jetblue/spirit occupying the major national category and a few startups. That's the whole landscape. We're about as consolidated as this industry is ever going to go be from what the top industry analysts are saying. This deepens the case for "too big to fail" imho. But who knows. Anyway I think you're right to suck it up and commute till you get on with your legacy of choice. Good luck to you!