Originally Posted by
flybywp
My two cents? If I had to do it all over again, I'd still pick Piedmont.
Yeah, I'm sure you would if it were still years ago when you made your decision. The point that you are missing is that TODAY the environment is very different. Do not accept subpar non-industry standard things. Is there a perfect regional? Heck no and there never will be. The point that you are missing is simply that no perspective new hire should rank/choose PDT over another regional TODAY with there being so many other options with vastly superior quality of life.
Honestly, why come to Piedmont when you can go to another regional and make more money (credit more hours / month) and at the same time have more days off per month? Oh, also you could have more flexibility in your schedule (4/2 and 6/2 is crap and unacceptable in today's world), fly newer aircraft and overall have a better quality of life? The point is, there is no reason TODAY to put Piedmont on any sort of pedestal. It made sense for some people (including me) at a certain time which is why we all came to Piedmont. However, it should not make sense for any new hire today, given what else is out there.
I see so many senior guys here near flow with Stockholm syndrome that say "it's not so bad", cool that's because you're about to go to AA and you survived. Some even got lucky with a sweet 4 or 5 year flow- congrats (those days are over now). The big thing is to leave Piedmont better than you found it. A new hire should not be choosing Piedmont when zero quality of life issues have been solved and the pilot group continues to be so far behind other regionals in regard to schedule, transparency, and working conditions. The only way that is ever going to change is if they cannot fill new hire classes.
Oh, there are bonuses. Cool. PSA. and Envoy got them too. This came directly from AA to try and keep their wholly-owns staffed. It was not some revolutionary thing that the company or ALPA created. This is a band-aid for the gunshot wound that is causing Piedmont to bleed out because people see how better it is at other places. The only good thing to come out of this for Piedmont was the increased pay rates for CAs (long overdue).