Originally Posted by
ProverseYaw
Again to be clear for the many of you who did not read, I do not wish for the downfall of 9E or any regional, but I do believe the regional model is failing. I just wanted to advocate for the truth so that potential new hires can be well informed. I do not advicate for any particular regional, and I believe razor's post has a lot of great points. The regional industry is on the way out. Legacy airlines are profitable enough to start concerning themselves with performance and reliability. United's 73-700 order and Delta's CS-100&300 order are proof of stradegy. Reduced frequency, increased capacity. Older md-80 airframes phased out, new thin med haul SEA routes, and reduced dci flights are the future.
But that doesn't mean a job at 9E equals a job at Delta. And my point is many on this forum will try to make you believe that you will be paid $50k every year as a 9E fo, upgrade fast, and be at Delta with a handshake deal.
Truth is, pay at regionals is in a temporary bonus bubble, with all regionals needing more FOs than apply. When mainline reduces regional flying, those bonuses will be gone. Wholly owned ALPA carriers at Delta and American are trying to make those temporary bonuses permanent with contractual language, but so far 9E, EVY, PDT & PSA have been unsuccessful. Independent regionals have raised contractual payrates, but how high can they increase pay while remaining competitive on cost of WO and profitable?
The AAG WO have the only true flow agreement where an interview at the regional equals a job for life at the legacy carrier American. But the time for a new hire to flow is ridiculously long and in almost all cases you'll be more than competitive to go to another legacy carrier earlier if you want. 9Es new hire interview agreement at Delta is equally as worthless because by the time you upgrade at 9E and spend 2 years on reserve as a captain you could have gone anywhere and been just as competitve for an interview. 9E delta interview success rate is on par with that of all off the street hires. Plus with all the 9E captains not leaving at the top seniority you will only see turn over of junior captains so enjoy the terrible schedules and try not to get a letter on file.
Is there a "safe" regional to goto today? Of course not. There has never been such a thing as a "safe" regional. Every regional is an outsourced cut rate bargain from mainline flying, and if daddy D decides that someone can do it for less or more reliably then your airline dujour is out of luck. My best advice is go somewhere that you wouldn't mind spending the next decade at, and work like hell to get on to somewhere better.
Damn....someone just crapped in my coffee. You mean to tell me that if I had stayed at Eagle for all for the last 12 years instead of taking a break, I'd now be at mainline? No thanks.
And a "safe" regional you say? Heck there isn't even such a thing as a "safe" major, let alone a safe regional, 135, or 91 job. And military flying... while it may offer better job security, is far from safe in a different sense of the word. The only "safe" job (as in some concept of job security) is working for the government. Life is a risk. The sooner you figure that out, the sooner you can get on with living.
The regional model may indeed be failing, but right now it's the best path to the majors for both pure civilian pilots and mil guys who have been out of the airplane for several years.