Piedmont isn't bad, but it's not great either. Crew bases are MDT, LGA, CHO, ROA, EWN, and SBY. We fly all over the East Coast and have a Dash-8-100 and -300 fleet. Supposedly they're looking at buying either Q400s or ATRs to replace some aircraft, but I (along with everyone else working at Piedmont) are not holding our breath. I'll believe it when I see the first new airplane on property.

Pay-wise it's not too terrible, comparatively. Pay rates will hopefully rise when the next contract is negotiated. Working rules aren't too bad either - but there will hopefully be some changes to those in the negotiations also.

Upgrade times are shortening dramatically. When I got hired in September upgrade times were around 6 years, and that's already down to about 3. Rumor has it that the company's going to run out of pilots with enough time to upgrade (3000 hrs is our insurance minimum at the moment) by sometime in late summer-early fall. It's anybody's guess if they'll lower the company minimum times or start hiring captains off the street. You'll be able to fly 100 hrs a month right now with no problem. You should be able to hold a block within a few months of being hired, as long as there are no big changes. If we would get new aircraft they're going to need to increase the number of pilots by a lot.

The majority of the crews are great, and have a lot of fun. There are the select few who don't have fun at their job and make a trip miserable - but I don't think the percentage is any higher at Piedmont than anywhere else. You'll hear a lot of different perspectives on Piedmont on this forum. The airline is what you make it - you'll have a good time if you want to have a good time. Yeah the airplanes are old, management's not great, etc, etc, but I'm not sure if those who are negative would be happier anywhere else. If you're looking to live in the East, it's not a bad gig but it could be better.