FlameNSky

I think there were not enough "crazy envoy salesman" so eaglefly had to create his own. Whoever Cujo664 is, he is clearly trying to disguise himself as Cujo665 so that nothing Ray says will be taken seriously.

In any case, the only argument eaglefly can make is there is "no guarantee". You can pick any subject in the world and make that claim. For thousands of people of around the world there is no guarantee they will be alive tomorrow night (accidents and whatnot).

I have been actively applying at the Big 3 for the last two years, having met or exceeded every competitive criteria with a perfect training history and I have yet to get a call for an interview. It would be one thing if I had interviewed and turned down but I am not even getting the chance. I know its a matter of time, there are thousands of applicants to get through, but I sleep much better at night knowing when my AA FT number comes up (which should be in about 12 months), if UA or DA haven't called, I'll be in class. That is a lot more of a guarantee than, "maybe today they will call." And if one of those company do call me to interview in 6 months, I will be a lot more relaxed knowing that even if they turn me down, I still have my number at AA.

We all have to choose our own course. We all have the responsibility to ourselves to choose that course and live with the consequences of those decisions. Personally, I think it would be foolish to base a career decision on the word of a faceless internet screenname. eaglefly, Cujo665, me or otherwise.

I endorse envoy because I believe it has a lot of value and that Parker is sincere in making it the fastest course to AA (because it saves him money). Parker will never stop the flow because that will only make his regional staffing worse. For that reason, I don't think envoy will ever pay as much as RAH's new contract either. I think they will eventually have to add some additional financial incentives, Parker will do whatever is necessary to staff his regional carriers but unlike Bedford, he is not limited by his CPA revenue stream. In an extreme case, I could see E175 and additional E190s at AA flown by former envoy pilots. As Parker himself has said, "We have no problem finding pilots for American." If that is what it takes to staff his jets, I could see him doing so. They already have the training programs, maintenance and ops specs in place. It would be an easy transition. A more expensive alternative to the low cost regional model but if the pilot market forces his hand, he will do it.

When I started Flight School, Comair, Eagle and AWA were the places to be. Now today, a former Colgan Lifer has the chance to go to Delta, former Value Jet pilots fly for Southwest and many Midwest pilots are asking themselves, "What the hell happened?!" There are definitely no guarantees in this profession but the contractual provision of envoy's Flow under Parker is a better guarantee than, "Maybe United will call today." And you can still pursue all the other opportunities that your regional pilot counterparts depend on as their only option to move on.

If someone chooses to listen the vague rants of eaglefly and daoldman, so be it. But that person will only have themselves to blame if in 6 years when they are saying to themselves, "Maybe Delta will call me today." And even if the flow did stop, that person would be in the same position they would be in if they went to RAH, SkyWest, TSA, waiting and hoping for that phone call.