Originally Posted by
Silver02ex
Paying for most of the flight training up front wasn't a big red flag to you? I would never pay for it up front to a place like Jet U. How did you not see that coming? Every flight school that I have ever attend or worked at allowed the "Pay as you go option"
I agree for flight training it should be pay-as-you-go. But flight schools back in 2006-2007 that had RJ transition programs required full money upfront for this course. One could either take a loan or bring a check. That in itself was not too shady. The shady part was how the business was run in terms of lies they spread to screw military members with VA benefits and lies spread about their own accreditation.
Originally Posted by
TeddyKGB
shy, the lost decade created a bunch of regional "lifers" as you choose to call them. XJ was a great place to be "stuck" for a lot of us "lifers" Most were living in base and making six figures and great QOL to boot. At the time, most of the eventual flows had no desire to go to some tier 3 airline just to fly a 320 for some of the worst rates in the industry and to commute to do so. I don't fault you for going to Virgin. In your position at the time it could easily be justified. On the other hand, you can't fault us XJ "lifers" at the time for staying put at XJ and holding out for something better than a tier 3 gig which most had not desire to commute to.
I had a few mentors and the advice given at 23 when starting at a regional: move up until the tail matches the name on the paycheck. But even if you excuse that, the lost decade is just a term. Yes 9/11 and Age 65 set the industry back but there was still plenty of hiring at LCCs/Legacies. The explosive growth was at the LCCs. You call it a 3rd tier airline and IMO that is more a mindset than anything else. The only thing I can see is living in base and not wanting to commute. But great schedules and six figure pay could easily be had at any LCC. And another fact is amongst Virgin/jetBlue/Spirit, anyone hired prior to March 2010 is a CA today making well over six figures. I'm not faulting you, but just trying to keep it factual. The last point I'd like to make is although you make it sound like many at XJ didn't want to work at 3rd tier airlines and wanted to hold out for something they could live in base for, the one airline that was that chance was Northwest, and I know two pilots who in the past commented that no way would they leave the Avro left seat to go make 30/hr to fly a DC9. For many (including Express/Pinnacle) that was an actual reason given. So it wasn't just not wanting to work for a 3rd tier airline. Some didn't want to fly the entry level DC9 for their mainline mothership for the wage being offered at the time. Of course, those that did take that leap are at Delta making excellent money. As for where I am the 320 pay isn't the highest in the industry but it's certainly not the lowest either as you like to claim. I'm also not 'above' working at any one place. That's why my apps went everywhere and the only two majors that were hiring at the time were NK and VX.