I just want to say that I in no way endorse Mesa. I absolutely understand that lots of places have it much better than I do. I applied at Skywest and blew the interview in SLC. I really wanted a base in Tucson or Phoenix and that was my main reason for my choice of airlines to interview with. Now I realize that there are more important things than where you are based. I have thought of leaving Mesa to go to Republic or Skywest many times since I started with them. Mesa can be very frustrating and they do many things with no regard for the pilot's QOL or even the contract for that matter. Anyway, I will once again try to bring this thread back to the original posters point. If Mesa is the only gig in town I would say great. Just know that you will put up with lots of crap from scheduling and you will fly alot and be away from home alot. 8 days off for reserves never changes and 10 days off for a line will be standard for at least a year. You will get a hotel while in training, split a house with two or three other guys in a four bedroom home at good ole' Gateway Airport while in ground school and then you get your own hotel room once in sim. You will get a hotel room and you will not have to share it with anyone once online even if your on a stand-up overnight. Pay is your guarantee from day one of training. Good luck to all who apply, and if you get on with Mesa and end up getting furloughed you can always go right back to that instructing job. I will answer any questions anyone has truthfully if you have them. Just to give you an idea of a week in the life of Mesa I pulled a post I made on here in February of this year.

This bid I will have 10 days off with a whopping 77 hours of pay credit. You should know your schedule 28 days in advance based on what you bid. In reality my schedule will probably get changed at least 10-20 times in a month, my planned days off will change at least two or three times and I never have any idea what is going to happen or when I will get home. When these guys on APC tell you that your choice of airline is a huge decision they are not lying. When I chose my airline I read all the messages on here saying don't go to XYZ airline cause it's horrible and management treats you like crap and I had the attitude of it can't be that bad. I thought they were just exagerating but they aren't. Heres an example of my schedule the last three days. 8 a.m. day one: fly a leg to airport A, get there at 9:15 a.m., done for the day, overnight there till 7 a.m. the next day when I fly to airport B, sit at airport B for 5 HOURS, fly a leg to airport C, done for the day. Away from base for 36 hours for 4.5 hours of pay. Day three is supposed to be my day off. Crew scheduling calls and informs me that I am being junior manned and will not get my day off as scheduled. 15 hours of duty on my day off and now I can't commute home. Because my original bid had 11 days off and our minimum is 10, they don't even have to give me another day off. Choose very very wisely when deciding on an airline, it can and will affect your life greatly.