Originally Posted by
JamesNoBrakes
Partly, yes. I heard their spiel back in the day, they said something along the lines of "you won't be making bank", but they seem to dance around the fact that it's well below the poverty line, the $13,000/yr part, and so on. They like to use vague ways to describe what you are talking about, like the hard work, the training, the pay, without being very specific. I'd say most people applying to regional airlines do not know what they are getting themselves into, Lakes is no different, and yes the recruiters do say a few things about "it's not great pay, but experience, blah blah blah", and that might be excusable if we were taking 40K/yr, but we aren't, we're talking less than McDonalds.
I don't think every pilot is looking for a CRJ or 777 job, I think they are looking for fair compensation. It's not SJS when they pass up Lakes for something with a livable wage, that's just survival.
I went through the interview process recently. Met with the recruiter at a job fair before that. In the email they send you prior to scheduling an interview they outline that there is no pay during training and mention which domciles you are likely to be placed in to start. When I spoke with the recruiter he was very direct at how the conditions at Great Lakes are. During the interview both pilots interviewing me also were upfront about training and the work conditions. They let you review the training contract at the interview as well.
Thanks to all the Lakes pilots on here (past and present) for sharing your experiences.