Originally Posted by
chrisreedrules
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.
As far as piedmont is concerned:
11-12 days off a month (does not change with seniority)
no schedule flexibility, you'll end up working 4 on 2 off all month, with maybe 3 days off between occasionally.
you'll have a carry over trip from the month prior, every month, that makes you work 8/9 days or 6 day stretches
if you bid a 14 day off line with the first five days off of the month, expect to have flying added to the first five days to bring your line down to 11 days off.
reserve is 1.5 hour call out, that's it.
min pay trips (16 hours each trip, there isnt one trip that is over 18 hours of credit in March) or 75 hours a month.
flow has slowed. 775 pilots on the seniority list and we flow around number 85. Without outside attrition that's 9.5 years, throwing in some attrition maybe 7.5-8 years. this isn't going to change.
you wont fly long legs, so you cant build time quickly here to get the hours to upgrade.
training backlog is 6+ months. Prob will decrease because we stopped growing.
since we stopped growing, so the flow isn't gonna increase anytime soon
manual pay corrections. anytime you have a cancelled flight, or a schedule change, you have to manually go in and send in an adjustment form to payroll for them to fix it. you're lucky if they actually do. Payroll still works in the stone age, so you have to watch your pay report like a hawk to properly get paid.
the upside? I enjoy the majority of the people I fly with here. the people on the line are great. theres a lot of potential, theres been a lot of potential for years, but the progress has been slow to catch up. When I first started we were operating like it was the 80's, now were operating like it's the late 90's (with planes that rolled off the assembly line in the late 90's lol)
I'd stay away from here. I talk to guys at PSA and at least they're getting more days off than we are. its a better QOL over there. Republic guys....yea, they got it way better than either one of us do.
It's all temporary, chose what is right for you, but I can say the moral is low as we continue to bend over for the company and get the occasional "thanks" from management.