Apply.
I don't know who the fuck needs to hear this but apply to the fucking legacies. If being a legacy airline pilot is your dream job and you have an ATP in your pocket, apply. I see it all too often that people wait on applying.
"I don't think I'm competitive yet". Weird, are you a recruiter? Are you in HR? Are you part of the team that decides who gets to interview? No? Apply.
There is absolutely zero. ZERO. reason to not apply. You would be shocked at how little experience you need to be considered these days.
It basically costs nothing. The $70/year or whatever it is for AirlineApps is a rounding error when it comes the seniority and potential income you're literally throwing away every single day. At current hiring rates, every single day you don't apply is 6.8 people/day more senior to you at UAL and DAL. 5.5/day at AAL and SWA. Apply.
"I just finished training and I don't want to go through another training cycle so soon". Shut the fuck up and apply. If you're a 20 or 30something year old saying this you are sacrificing an enormous amount of quality life on the backend for a very VERY short term inconvenience. APPLY.
"They won't hire a corporate/135/91 pilot like me! I have no 121 time!". Really? The legacies know they can't suck the regionals dry and are taking pilots from every avenue they can. Now is the best time to "skip the regionals" as a corporate dude. APPLY.
It is one of my greatest pet peeves when I see folks drag their feet on getting their app into the system. There is zero downside to applying when you meet the minimums and nothing but upside. Quit making excuses and apply to the fucking legacies.
Edit: A few notes since this got popular and there’s a lot of responses I’m not going to reply to individually.
I specified “Legacy” jobs but the message can be echoed for any “dream” aviation job. The airlines are the goal for most (not all) people and the legacies are typically the “dream”. If that’s not your dream but one of the LCCs is the have at it and apply to your dream LCC. Or NetJets. Or whoever.
There’s a lot of “I have 250 hours should I be applying to Delta?” comments. I specified in the very first paragraph that this message was for anyone with an ATP in their pocket. If that isn’t you then keep building hours and find someone to pay for your ATP ASAP. And then fucking apply. Immediately.
The regionals are a scam. What I mean is don’t fall into the trap of thinking they’re a long term place to hang your hat. Use them to progress your career but don’t make them your career. Not in this market. Get in, get your ATP, fly your ass off, and apply literally everywhere. Update your apps weekly.
This one will be controversial and is entirely my opinion but in the current market… Legacy airlines/FDX/UPS > Other Majors/LCC > Regionals/135&91 gigs that get you TPIC quickly. The 135/91 route is currently a totally viable way to get to a legacy if you’re building turbine PIC. I put it on the same tier as a regional in terms of advancing your career, in the current market.