Originally Posted by
SandMan2
Lol yeah I don't think that's a very mature position to take. To go from my current grade in the military to first year pay at any airline is a 50% pay cut. Some of us have things like college tuition for the kids, bills, child support, etc. It can be done but it's not an easy transition. Not having the commute time allows me to work odd days for the reserves and make up for some of that lost pay.
Hiring environment is completely different from 5 year ago when I left the military. United policy at the time was “100 hrs in something more complex than a cessna”. Every other airline I met at job fairs said they want recent turbine time and I was competing against regional pilots with 10,000+ hours. Oh how times have changed.
My exit plan contained enough savings to cover 3 years of time at the regionals before their current rates and bonuses. It is a completely different show now and it is likely you won’t be at one for more than a few bid periods before getting a call at a LCC or even a major. Very common in our new hire classes to see people from Spirit, Allegiant, Jet Blue and Alaska with less than 1 year in their previous company. I think a recent class was comprised of almost 50% SWA pilots.
There is a seat for you at a major probably inside 12-18 months if you started getting current today. The majors are scraping the bottom of the barrel but not to the point where they are taking pilots that haven’t been flying consistently and quite often professionally.