There is a lot of misinformation and half truths on this thread. As with many threads here on APC so take all of this for whatever you think it’s worth. I would encourage you to reach out to actual pilots flying at the prospective companies you’re interested in to get a good idea of exactly what life on reserve and on the line is like and what you can expect.
Wanting PHL, you have basically 3 options:
*Republic
*PSA
*Piedmont
Republic: Great contract and pay for a regional airline. A friend of mine is a recruiter for them and told me recently that because of their current wait for training, it will likely be spring - summer 2020 before anyone interested right now even touches the 175 out flying the line. That is a very long time to wait to start building experience and time.
PSA: PHL is somewhat junior on the FO side. You won’t have any issue getting it relatively quick. You will be on reserve for quite a while at PSA. Reserve here (and at any of the AA wholly-owneds) is not great. That being said PSA just passed some improvements to our reserve rules which will improve things. Once you’re a line-holder at PSA you can take advantage of our SAP (Schedule Adjustment Period). It allows you to drop down to a minimum of 65 hours of flying if you want to maximize your days off, pick up flying to maximize your credit, or swap and drop trips to get the days off you want/need. It offers unparalleled schedule flexibility. The processing times for requests tend to be slow now that we have over tripled in size since it was first rolled out, but I have personally never had any issues getting all the days I need off. The pay override is a gain for most of the pilots here (though there are some who would disagree with this). You will be forced to upgrade to Captain as soon as you have 1,000
SIC and you can be displaced out of base. This may change by the time you’re eligible etc but as of right now that’s where things sit.
Piedmont: I don’t know as much about Piedmont. Mostly what I’ve heard from talking to friends there or running into their pilots. I do know that they don’t have any real schedule flexibility and you can expect to only be off 11-12 days /month 75-85 hours. Not great. Piedmont was the wholly-owned with the quickest flow but I don’t know if that holds true now. It seems that time to flow ebbs and flows at the 3 AA regionals depending on when you were hired. Some people will flow in 5 years. Other are projected to be around 7-8 years.
I can really only speak about PSA from first-hand experience. I’ve been here a few years and overall it’s been okay (it’s a regional). I’ve worked at worse places and I’ve worked at better places. We are still growing and it is my understanding that PHL is going to continue to grow at a more rapid pace than our other bases. We begin swapping out CRJ200s for new CRJ900s this year.
That being said PSA is not in fact giving concessions as the poster above said. Of the 3 AA wholly-owned regionals we seem to enjoy the benefits of the best working relationship between ALPA and management. Our contract isn’t up until 2023 so until then I would expect small gains here and there. Classes are full and attrition is manageable at all 3 AA wholly-owneds though so management doesn’t see any real need to make significant enhancements to pay or the current flow agreements. Looking at the hiring data, if AA is your #1 career destination your best shot to get there is working for one of their wholly-owned regionals. And it PHL is your goal that really leaves you 2 options. If you have any specific questions about PSA (or any other regional) feel free to PM me and I will do my best to help.