Originally Posted by bkey79

I'm definitely not going to go out and bash any other regional, Mesa, SKW or the lot. No doubt that SKW has a long standing good reputation, and even I had to think about going there or G7. Likewise, right now is a great time to be at a wholly owned. PSA offers SAP and flow. Envoy is expanding at an amazing rate. Endeavor is on par with Envoy with the expansion. They all might have good and bad things about them. However, 90% of the G7 bashing comes from people that have never worked here, and others that just make stuff up. I hate to sound like the G7 cheerleader, because G7 does have it's problems, but it doesn't deserve the bashing it receives on this forum.



So I was a street captain hired almost 1 year ago today. When I applied, I had heard all the bad talk about G7 and was very skeptical about coming here. I have no training failures, in good standing with all previous employers, I'm prior military (non-flying) and had a great med-evac job with amazing benefits. When I applied, G7 sent a recruiter to my hometown to interview me. Honestly, I thought that was really cool. That recruiter and I sat down and officially interviewed for about 30 minutes when he then offered me a street captain job. We then BS'ed for about another hour, as I had my doubts about leaving my job for G7. I accepted the offer, kinda hesitantly but hopeful.

Fast forward to training. On day 2 we got our company IDs, and by the first weekend we were in CASS. Half the class went jump-seated home that first weekend. First couple paychecks come in for of written check, in a training folder. 2 weeks of indoc, then on to systems training. All systems training is done at Flight Safety in STL. The instructors were excellent. I've been through a couple different flight safetys, and these guys were def some of the best I've had. Simulator training can be done by either G7 staff or flight safety. I had flight safety instructors, who again were excellent. The check ride was intense, but if I can do it with no CRJ experience, anyone can. The training overall was really no different than the training experience I had when I was at RAH.

Hotels, well overall are amazing! The extended stay in STL sucks, but that is only for training. And it is nice to have a full kitchen. After training though, I've never had a bad hotel while here. Typically we stay at Crown Plaza, Hilton, Marriott, Double Tree, Cambria Suites etc. Every place we go usually has an great gym and good restaurants close by (thanks hotel committee!)

Reserve life at any regional blows, especially if you are a commuter, but it is manageable here. Every one that doesn't get a line is assigned long call reserve (LCR) which is a 12 hour call out. Scheduling can then change two of the LCR sits to short call reserve (SCR). Scheduling can change just 1 day or a stretch of days, but those days have to be together. So you'll basically get 2 stretches of LCR and 2 of SCR. Because I'm a commuter, I average about 15 days at home per month. So far this month I have a minimum of 13 days off on reserve with another LCR stretch coming up. We do have Airport Reserve, but because it counts as one of the 2 conversions, scheduling rarely uses it. I've only sat Airport reserve one time in the year and that was middle of the summer during holiday peak.

We have the typical commuter policy, 2 different listing that have to be at least 1 hour apart to use the commuter clause. Also, the company pays for 4 hotels per month. I've actually gotten more, usually by joking and bargaining with scheduling. They've asked me to take an extension and I jokingly say with an extra commuter hotel, sure!

Open time can be picked up by anyone and traded if you are holding a line. All open time is 150% on top of guarantee. Typically open time credits for 200% and up to 300% during peak season. I made nearly $4500 for a four day trip last year, all on top of guarantee. My first year pay is over $75k with only 1 open time trip picked up, 1 month above guarantee and no bonuses. I've picked up about 270 hours in the left (300ish if you count IOE)seat and about 25 hours in the right. I held a line over the summer last year in STL and I just bid DTW where I'll hold a line there at 1 year seniority.

Does G7 have it's problems, sure. However this place has treated me really well. I've been treated with respect, only asked to do my job and nothing that was against the contract, illegal or unsafe. Moral here is actually really good, believe it or not. I also know that G7 has a checkered past, but I honestly haven't seen any of it in my time here.