All in all, its a regional - so like any regional... it has its minuses. Its easy to come on here and gripe and not speak of the positives. That said I do not avoid the negatives by any means. That said I agree with the list above but will add two more cents worth.
Plus
- First year pay with sign on bonus was pretty dang good, I made 60k without really working very hard at all
- I was able to make a very commutable schedule with the SAP
- several times I took a SAPcation of 10 days off in a row and still did 80 hours of flying(pay)
- great travel benefits on largest airline in the world
Minus
- contract, though written in plain english and 20 6th graders could all come to the same conclusion about what something means = the company will interpret it in a way you could never possibly imagine
- our weaksauce union will say "the company is free to interpret it however they want" instead of sticking up for its members and fighting tooth and nail for you
- LoAs and contract has more holes than a swiss cheese factory
- union communication with the exception of a few great members is somewhere between sucks horribly and non-existent
- union blame shifts its shortcoming onto its members, which is laughable because they pass stuff without basic communications, surveys, input or votes
- the company advertises 20k retention bonus on your one year anniversary on its website, LoA wording can make it take up to 18 months to see the first 2500 payment - I've consulted a lawyer, there is precedent, I'm considering pursuing it...
there's other things but those are the main ones. Again, all in all, day to day most of the time you show up do your job go home get paid no worries no issues. Its a job, could it be better - sure. Problem the most significant thing to me is the very toxic us vs them that the company seems to have against the employees that the union has seem to absorbed. Of course I speak for my interests - why would I speak for the companies interests, that's their jobs.