I'm not sure there are strong enough words to caution any Mesaba pilot or brand new hire from coming to Colgan. You will not find anyone that is truely happy to be here or defend any of the company policies. Having said that, you will find a great pilot group, one that has been slowly becoming more unified. The constant less-than-poor treatment from management may just bring us that much more together...

As for reserve:
Reserve at Colgan is abuse, and for that matter so is line flying. There are no reserve lines above ten days off. Usually 5/2 and they can put random reserve of a day or two in a schedule. If for some reason (beginning/end of month) you get more than 6 days straight, they will normally take away a middle day of reserve, keeping you in base and allowing for extension at the end of your duty. Once activated, if only for a turn, you remain on duty until your original 12hr duty is over, you are not released. Extensions from hard lines, as well as RES is normal and constant, the fatigue calls have substantially increased as pilots are consistently pushed until safety is an issue. Plan on getting numerous calls during your rest, changing your schedule or trying to notify activation. Either poorly trained or inexperienced SOC staff is all the more reason to watch your back and make sure what's going on is safe and legal.

Commuter Clause: Must have two flights arriving in base within reasonable time for your show time. These flights must have had open seats and you are expected to prove it. You are also expected to pick up your trip when you are able to commute. Commuter clause can only be used twice a year. Overall it's a decent policy, but as with everything at Colgan, it can be changed or molded to benefit the company.

Take this advice for what it is. Colgan is a horrible place to work and would be a total shock coming from any airline with a contract or a company concerned at all with employee qol. Although there has been a lot of effort on the union front and pilots side to change this: The posts are true, the attitude is what you've heard, morale couldn't be any lower. Make your choices carefully. Pm me if you need any more info or have any questions!