Originally Posted by JustLookin

Hello all,

I'm an RTP guy that has recently completed an interview with Envoy. I have done tons of research on several threads, but I thought it would be a good idea to make a thread to answer some questions for myself and for future guys wanting to go through this program.

Background: Army Aviation. Before my research, I knew nothing about airlines, specifically regionals such as Envoy.

Goal: Get answers to basic questions such as QOL, schedules, domiciles, etc... I would love everyone's opinions that have been with the company for more than a minute.

I understand that things are "hard" right now and there are plenty of topics of conversations to get things fixed. This is not a "DON'T COME TO ENVOY THREAD", but is more about "Now I am at Envoy. What can I expect?" I say this mostly because, whether you like it or not, Envoy has the most financial support of fixed wing training.

1) Seniority Number. When will I get this. Will I get this upon conditional offer, or when flight training at Coast is completed(which could take MANY months)? Based on future numbers, this could be a huge difference. When you show up for day one of training at Envoy. Not during interview, not while you're at Coast, when you show up to class at Envoy.

2) Domiciles. I live near a home domicile that is not Chicago or NY. How long can I realistically expect to get back to where I want to be? I know about the forced upgrades, so please discuss both FO's and Captain instances. Assuming you want MIA or DFW, there is honestly no telling. There is so much craziness and movement right now things are changing all the time. I'd venture a guess and say 6-12 months. Probably closer to the 12 mark, but it's a crap shoot.

3) Reserves. I know that reserves will suck. How can I make the best out of it until I wait to get back to my home domicile? What are my options for staying places overnight, etc....? Is a 4 day reserve schedule what we are looking at on a regular basis? Commuting to RSV is awful. It's really what makes this job miserable. 5 day RSV stretches are the norm, with an occasional 4 or 3 day stretch thrown in the mix. I wish I had some great answer about how to make the best of it, but there really isn't a way to do that unless you have some sort of place to live while you're on RSV at whatever base you're at- i.e. friends or family to crash with, cheap apartment, etc...You get 4 nights at a hotel per month paid by the company. The rest is for you to figure out

4) QOL. Give me everything you got...everything that you wished you knew when you started. Family time is super important to me, so I'm very curious about this aspect. How much seniority will I need to even get 1 or 2 weekends a month off? Holidays? How much time can I expect to spend with my family (which leads to the next point)? If MIA or DFW is where you wanna be, you're looking at a long time to hold consistent weekends off and holidays. You might get a few here and there, but it'll be tough. You'll be able to hold them quicker as an FO, but once you get forced to upgrade, you're probably looking at the very least a year or two. As far as what makes or breaks your QOL more than anything, it's commuting. I used to do it and then moved into base. It makes it a whole different job driving to work. A huge QOL hit also to think about is time off, especially on RSV. On RSV you can only get 3 days in a row off. There are options to trade RSV days around with your schedule, but the company consistently denies those requests. So if you need more than 3 days off as a RSV pilot, you have to rely on your vacation. And the real kicker...you don't get more than 14 days of vacation per year until you're on 8 year pay. Holding a line you at least have some options with trip trading to line up some days off. But don't count on taking many great trips or doing anything fun for more than a couple of days here and there outside of your vacation while you're on RSV.

5) Scheduling. What do typical lines look like once I get them? 4 on, 2 off? Any other comments, gripes, complaints. Depends on the base. Junior lines are as few as 11 and 12 off a month. Those 11 and 12 off you'll see a lot of 4 on 2 off with some 4 on 3 off. And the occasional stretch of days off more than that. Average days off is 13-14.

Thanks so much in advance. I, and probably many others to come, greatly appreciate the invaluable advice.