Originally Posted by shrsailplanes

This is what I know from personal experience:

I was at skywest for four years before I came to netjets. Quality of life, while at work at skywest was light years better than netjets. For me, there is really no comparison. When I was on a trip doing my job I really enjoyed what I was doing. Great airplane (E175), great captains and crew and I knew where I was going and what I was doing.

I had to commute at skywest, which was stressful and I got paid about half of what I made at netjets. Positive space travel at netjets was a big improvement, but ultimately I was still in the back of an airliner, exhausted with crying babies and sitting next to people with big elbows and no regard for personal airspace. Being from the west coast my airline home at netjets was usually from IAD or EWR and that made for a really long ride.

It all boiled down to this: At skywest the commute between PHX-LAX was stressful, but my four days working was fulfilling and enjoyable. At netjets, my commute to and from PHX was less stressful, but I dreaded the seven days ahead of me because I had no idea what was coming and even when you got your 6pm brief it almost always blew apart during the night and continued to change during the day. The Sovereign is unreliable and broke down frequently. I trusted the ERJ with my life. The Sovereign not so much.

Quality of life while on the job matters more to me me than pay and a positive space commute. At netjets I felt like I couldn’t rely on anything. Even the airplane sent me to the emergency room with severe ear pain from a pressurization fault.

Back to your question, I’m going to F9. By year 2 FO pay is better than what I got at netjets and pay is much easier to come by. You are not reliant on all the soft pay. Captain pay is much better than netjets. Quality of life while on the road is so much better. The Airbus is a good airplane. Comfortable and capable. There is a PHX base that new hires can get right out of training. 15% direct contribution. 3 year upgrades.

I did not choose a legacy carrier, because you need at least 6 years or more at the company to avoid furlough. F9 may furlough in the future, too, but they didn’t during Covid and that carried some weight in my decision.

Sorry for the long post, but I felt I needed to qualify my answer.