Originally Posted by
sonic
I don't envy skywest.....but they do annoy the hell out of me. They are the "Golden Child" of the regional industry. Everything just seems to fall in their lap, including a lot flying done by other companies that they've under cut in price by flying anything with 100 seats or less for stinking 50 seat pay! They took over Air Wisconsin flying at United for starters and they just put Skyway out of business. Ask those boys how they feel about Skywest.
In addition, being a commuter myself I do everything I can to get a jumpseater on board. There are many ways to do this and most of you know what I'm talking about when it comes to weight/balance issues on the RJ. I've been kicked out of the jumpseat twice by being over by 40 pounds and no effort by the captain whatsoever. These are just my personal issues with skypest.
I do have to hand it to their management though, they do a great job of keeping employees happy and dishing out the kool-aid.
#1 We dont fly anything close to 100 seats..... and we've been getting the "BHO" for 700/900 for some time.
#2 We in no way undercut Skyway, their labor rates in every position of every year is less than SkyWest, fuel costs made flying DoJets ineffecient.
#3 I have never bumped a jumpseater for weight, quite an accomplishment IMO flying the 200 out of ORD. We found a way each time.
#4 We did not get Air Whiskey flying because we were the cheapest, otherwise Mesa or GoJets would've gotten it. We got it because we provide a quality product, at a good price. Yes perhaps we have cheaper labor than Air Whiskey, but I believe a lot more went into it. Do you have the same problem with CHQ getting Xjet, or Xjet getting ASA, contracts change hands. It's unfortunate, I wish I could prevent it, but right now that's the game that's played. I'm so tired of everyone acting like SkyWest undercuts everyone. If contracts went to lowest bidder everytime, SkyWest would not win any flying, because we are not the cheapest.