Originally Posted by Grumbletrousers

A few reasons:

1) We only fly the 200. This is not a big deal for most people, but there is a large group of young pilots that only care about flying the 175. Shiny jet syndrome is real, and for whatever reason some people even make out “engine under wing” time as being more important then normal jet time.

2) Our bases. Flying only in the Midwest and on the East coast, we already lose anyone who wants a west coast base. Furthermore IAD is SUPER senior. ORD is pretty senior already and will only get more senior with displacements. That leaves MKE which is a two leg commute for anyone that doesn’t live in the Chicagoland area (or a one leg commute and a bus ride), and CAE which will be a mostly commuter base with only 2 flights a day from ORD or IAD.

3) Pay/ Career progressment incentives. We could have classes filled in an instant if we went to E9 rates. We could pad our seniority list quickly if we had a flow-through to United. Unfortunately we don’t have either of those options. We can’t get E9 rates because we don’t have the financial backing of a wholly-owned, and we can’t have a flow because United doesn’t have any wholly-owns.

It’s frustrating because AWA is an awesome place to work. (Almost) Every domicile manager is great. Chief-Pilot is fantastic. Health Insurace is great, 401K is good, and if you’re looking to build time, upgrade quickly and build that PIC time, AWA is great. I’ve been treated really well here as have most people that aren’t trouble makers. Problem is people see other airlines and just see more then what AWA can offer. Endevor has great pay, Piedmont, PSA, and Envoy have flow, Republic has good pay and the 175s and Skywest has bases all over the country. AWA, and most of the other regionals just can’t offer as much.