Originally Posted by fosters
I just talked to a from a friend at Colgan - he's been there almost 8 months, still on reserve, 8 days off, not even flying enough to break guarantee (he's on the 1900).
Minimum days off at Colgan is 10, not 8. I know, still not great. If he is still on reserve after 8 months, he chooses to be. By that I mean staying in the base he is in. He could easily transfer to another base, be more senior and hold a higher paying line.
Originally Posted by fosters
Just because you were lucky enough to get on at the uptick of expansion doesn't mean other people are. He's forcasting at least another 12 months to upgrade, and he says it'll be 3.5 years before he sees the SAAB (with no more expansion).
Yea you're right. I did catch the expansion well. I upgraded in 14 months. I was lucky there. And one downside of Colgan (regardless of my positive opinion of the company) is the guys who get assigned to the Beech have to go through the left chair on the Beech for a year before seeing the left seat of the SAAB. I do believe more expansion is about to happen.
Originally Posted by fosters
Point being, you can take the risk of short upgrade, but then get stuck at the bottom, or take the risk of a longer upgrade, but have a better QOL if you get stuck. Compare that $23k x 2 years ($46k) to our $70k...quite a big difference, isn't it?
As the upgrade times have lengthen out to 18 months or so the company knows they have a problem with second year pay for FO's. I think there may be a pay raise coming there. Up until six months ago it wasn't an issue, because second year pay was at the captain's rate. Fosters, what do you think at your company your total pay would be over four or five years, with the current upgrade times?
Originally Posted by fosters
Congrats on applying to majors - it's certainly a big milestone. You are definately in a good position if they start hiring later on. A CA I just flew a trip with was interviewed and hired at SWA WITHOUT a type rating, he just had to get it prior to starting groundschool.
We've had two without types get interviews, one was successful (the unsuccessful one is at JetBlue now). SWA says about 20% of those they are interviewing now don't have it and typically those candidates have between 2200 and 2800 pic instead of the average of 1800 pic. Continental is my first choice but as I get closer the 1600 pic mark, I may go get the type. SWA would be a great place to be. I never thought I would ever get the chance to even apply to a major.