Originally Posted by
billyho
Last I checked the WO's aren't so far off from Compass, Republic or SkyWest in terms of pay and work rules. People today will go to Regionals that have a fast upgrade and the ones that have long upgrades will lose people very fast. Where do you go? A regional that has a great first year pay and 4 year upgrade or one that the pay isn't that high but has a 1 year upgrade? I believe right now PSA and Piedmont offer those fast upgrades and will get pilots.
You make 8 years to get to a major sound like its a big deal. That was about the avg. time it took for regional pilots to get to a major. Most had 2-3 year upgrades and spent 3-5 years as Captains before they were competitive for the majors. Sure some went earlier but 8 years isn't a terrible number.
Uhhh, yea they are. I think our contracts afford is better qol than many of the others, but FO pay, specifically first year FO pay is a far cry from many of the others. And also factor in many airlines are offering 10-15K in bonuses. PSA is showing signs of stagnation and can barely hire for attrition at the moment. Envoy is ultimately shrinking and a new hire can expect a lengthy amount of time on reserve. And I honestly have no clue about PDT? But the biggest issue with PDT has always been commutable bases. I know PHL changes that but I wouldn't expect that to last for long as an attainable base for a new hire as your seniority list fills up.
And my point about the flow is that it isn't really all that attractive in and of itself to get new hires to come to one of the wholly owned regionals. At least not in its current form. I personally don't think 8 years to a major is a big deal. It will likely be 5 or 6 for me and I'm not complaining about that. But I'm also not counting on it either. I'm doing everything I can to get out before that happens. If AAG wants to staff it's regionals and ultimately have pilots flow for mainline, it takes one thing... Money.