Originally Posted by joel payne

I live here in the DFW area and know your son "G". (Leaving his name out here). Congrats to him, and I also heard today what his assignment will be. He was going to try and help me get on with Flexjet, but Netjets beat him to the punch. Great things are happening to a lot of good people, your son included. Congrats to him again!

Thanks for the compliment. It is indeed the "G" you speak of. Looks like it will be the Airbus in MIA for him, until such time as he can hold a line in DFW. AA is supposed to fly the MIA guys down there next week for a base indoctrination. He has lived in the MIA area for 10 years, so is somewhat familiar with the area. There are 17 in the class. 13 "flow through's" from Eagle, 3 military and "G". Guess all ground school classes on systems has gone to home based computer classes. Not sure I'd have the discipline for that. Have fun at Netjets!

Originally Posted by joel payne

These are my own thoughts, not my son's and thereby might be listed as "hear say". Thought I'd pass on to other Flexjet guys, gals and those hoping to fly for them.

My eldest son resigned from Flexjet last week, after 9 1/2 years, 5 1/2 as Captain. He said he had a good time and mostly enjoyed the job. He started a class at American yesterday. He said it was a REALLY hard choice. He has worked, part time, on the ramp, for AA for 25+ years. Since he was a junior in college. Between that job, school and flying checks at night was a tough way to ahead. He also went through 2 failed airlines [Vanguard & Southeast].

He is giving up considerable pay, at least for the 1st year, even with the new contract. He will also lose his airline frequent flier and hotel points and his free cell phone. On the downside of Flexjet, he was always on call. They would call and assign him a trip and then change it once or twice. Almost all hotel layovers were by the airport. True the airports ranged from the Pacific Northwest to the Caribbean, but not much time for sightseeing. There are also occasions when you get to tidy up the a/c and restock the supplies.

I also understand that Flexjet has stopped their bonus contribution to the retirement plan and done away with the yearly bonus for this year. Overall, he said it was a good job, he was just ready to move on. This may be my last post on the Flexjet side, not that I posted that much of interest anyway. The GOOD news is that for those of you on the bottom 1/2 of the seniority list, you just moved up a number.

I'll leave you with a message he posted on a social media site, and wish everyone GOOD LUCK! Again, these are my thoughts, NOT his.

"And so it ends. After 26 1/2 years of working the ramp for American Airlines while pursuing my flying career, this chapter of my life concluded tonight. Fittingly my last flight was to Nashville where it all started long ago. From there to Miami to Dallas it has been a great ride. Looking forward to the next chapter on the flight deck for American. To all my friends here at DFW and around the country, I will miss you. To my wife who has been by my side the entire way, leaving behind friends and family on this crazy ride, thank you. Your love and support has been a guiding force. I love you! Onward and upward!"

Originally Posted by IFlyFL410

I flew with G quite a bit over the past eight years here at Flexjet. One of my faves. Ask him who made his flying video the other week and you'll know who I am ; ) He'll be missed but with any luck I'll see him at American soon.

Originally Posted by Skykruzer

What kind of pay could you expect first year? Also, how do the domiciles work. Are you based in one place? I live about 1 1/2 hrs from MDW so I was curious if this would work for me. How is the quality of life?

Originally Posted by IFlyFL410

Probably $65-70,000 the first year at the most. Depending on how many days, OT, per diem, etc that you can make. You're allowed to pick any domicile. All they ask is that you're within 1.5 hours of base on your day one. QOL is what you make of it. Schedules range from 4-8 day trips with with any where from 3 to 5-6 or more off. Just depends on what you bid for.

Originally Posted by Fetzervalve

If people are hired onto Flexjet, do they start on the traditional Lear and Challenger fleets, or would they potentially start on the Phenom fleet since that is apparently grouped into Flexjet these days?

Also, how many Lear 75s do you guys operate these days and how many on order? Dedicated pilots on that fleet? Beautiful airplane - I saw one in APF recently.

Originally Posted by IFlyFL410

Depends on when you're hired as to which airplane you go to. This has always been the case. Technically, Flexjet doesn't have any Phenoms, although there are two flying around with FX tail numbers. All Phenoms are flown by Options pilots. Currently, we have five 75's flying around with a total of nine slated to come on board by year's end. It's a great airplane and a lot of fun to fly. They are not dedicated crew aircraft although initially that idea was tossed around.