rst, let me say that the management at Fly Exclusive is awesome. I can tell they really want the company to be successful and really care about their employees. They call everybody a "flyFamily" *red flag*, but it's good-intentioned. Regardless, I also want them to be successful.

That being said, they seem out of touch with the industry, and very disorganized. Everything is tribal knowledge and nothing is set in stone. They told us in indoc we would be captains in less than 6 months. They said we needed two captain recommendations to fly empty Part. 91 legs from the left seat, and then two more recommendations flying from the left seat to be eligible for captain upgrade. I had those recommendations in less than 2 months on the line. When I asked what the next what the next steps were for upgrade, I was told it was dependent on a combination of recommendations, experience, hours, and aptitude. Quite different than what we were told in indoc.

That's great, but I have plenty of experience (121 captain experience, albiet) and several internal recommendations at FE. When I inquired about a seniority list, they published a a seniority list that didn't include fleet positions or seat positions. Not very transparent. Seemingly to hide the fact that many junior direct entry captains were flying the line. But rest assured! A memo said direct entry captains wouldn't affect current FO upgrades! A junior pilot from my class is captain, while senior guys are making FO pay. Call me old-fashioned, but I think we bypassed FO's deserve captain pay until we upgrade at the very least.

Also, the latest new hire class had 10 direct entry captains, while all of the loyal FO's are still making FO pay. Interesting. All of the drama aside, we get paid hourly bonuses (to keep flying broken planes, which happens alot). You hit 30 hours in a month, you get and extra $50 - $150 per hour to keep flying, depending on which fleet you're on.

All stereotypical pilot *****ing aside, flyExclusive is definitely a good stepping stone for pilots on the way to their final destination. I hope someday FE becomes a final destination.