 Re: Cargo or Airline?
If I can add one thing here, its this: Job stability.
Cargo companies know what it costs to fly their planes and drive their trucks, and they charge accordingly. Whenever you ship anything, you pay that little line called "fuel surcharge." The cargo companies know their business, and they get a return on their investments. As such, they are durable companies, that will last the test of time, through recessions, etc.
The airlines are simply at a point where their business model doesn't work, and they are in the worst possible place for the price war THEY created, because it benefits none of them. Probably the biggest problem I have with airline life in the modern job environment, is that while you can always get a job as a qualified pilot, the pay and overall quality of life is directly tied to your seniority AT THE COMPANY YOU FLY FOR. If you fly for company A, and have 15 years in, and company A goes belly up, furloughs, or whatever, and you start flying for company B, you're back in the right seat, at the bottom of the pay scale (more likely than not). Airline Aviation is one of the only industries I can think of where advancement works this way, and quite frankly, I think its wrong.
I am a huge proponent of the idea of a national Airline Pilot Seniority List, or better yet, simply a change in the industry to where one is hired, upgraded, promoted, fired, etc based on MERIT.
Just my $.02
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