Bill20000

Hi

I've seen your posts over there in the Envoy forum as well. As a PSA pilot I might be a little bit biased, but of course was once looking at making a similar decision.

My point of view:
Air Wisconsin: A good airline with a good contract and a good sign up bonus. What kept me away from it was the fact that the United contract is only for 5 years. They are only flying old 200s and what happens after the 5 years? If the oil price increases or the economy tanks - the 50 seaters are the first to go. Of course you can see people all over the forum telling pilots that in a couple of years they are going to be at a Major/Legacy no matter what. If that's true... Only the future will tell. If you don't want a legacy (AA, DL, UA) but are also OK with Spirit or Jet Blue after some 121 time - they both have bases in FL.

Republic: Their contract seems to have some nice perks in it. The E175 is a nice airplane and they have the Miami base. But as it looks right now.. Holding MIA as a base will take a couple of years. Upgrade times are also longer than at Envoy or PSA

Envoy: Compared to PSA... Envoy has currently (PSA Pilots are negotiating...nobody knows what comes out of that) the faster flow and a MIA base. However reports are that Envoy is overstaffed on the FO side. That might be for a reason (maybe they are expecting some big growth in the future) but for the moment it puts a lot of people on reserve). They are understaffed on the Captain side but with all the hiring of the last year(s)... that might be not for too long. That's the reason imho why they only offer bonuses for Captain qualified applicants and not a outright better Captain payrates.
Envoy is giving airplanes to PSA (around 1 CRJ a month) and Piedmont, but they are also reactivating older Embraers out of Texas. Maybe they are getting more 175s in the future (more than planned when the Compass contract ends?). Nobody here knows...
Bonus at Envoy is a little bit higher compared to PSA.
I heard that it's difficult to get MIA as a Captain for Envoy (not validated rumor).

PSA: If you look at the latest Base updates: PSA doesn't have much of a reserve in Dayton. Holding a line there is 4 months after date of hiring. That's pretty much just out of training. With a line you should be able to fly more than being on reserve. But Dayton out of Florida would be a two leg commute... Which is a big QOL issue. However, imho AA travel privileges make it easier to do a 2 leg commute than with UA or DL travel benefits. And it would be only for a couple of months until you can hold DCA, CLT, or the new base PHL. All of these bases have lots of flights from FLL or MIA. But it depends where you live in Florida. Commuting out of FLL or MIA might be difficult as there are lots of non-revs on these flights. Personally, so far I never had a problem.
The SAP system with PSA is a great quality of life (QOL) tool - but it requires to hold a R1 line.
I personally don't mind commuting, but lots of people here will tell you that you should choose a regional based on their bases first. I disagree due to the SAP at PSA...but that's my personal idea. Every pilot should look into different regionals and then make an informed decision on whatever suits best for one's personal needs. There is no one fit for all and nobody can look into the future.

I hope I could help a little bit with your decision making. Ask any questions or send me a PM.