Upcoming Interview
 

I have an interview next week with Air Wisconsin, however I am contemplating to cancel it as I already have an offer from another regional. I'm just not sure if I should even attend, but truthfully I have not spoken to a lot of pilots about the company and do not have any friends working there. I have been scouting the threads here to learn more but had some questions.

- How happy are people at the company right now? I'm reading a lot of people are leaving cause of the bonus payouts for new hires, not happy about lines etc. QOL good?
- how long are the upgrade times? I realize this is only a prediction but are they telling the truth saying that upgrades are projected 18-24 months? I read somewhere the upgrades right now are something like 5 years?
- Someone told me that this whole new contract with United is dependent on them hiring a bunch of pilots, how is that going so far?

I'm sorry for all the questions, just trying to make the right decision here.

Thank you

People are very happy here. It's one of the best pilot groups you could ask for. I understand people being unhappy about lines though. I'm pretty irate with my 17 days off and 92 credit in September. Hiring, by all accounts, is going well. Classes are full. Upgrade time will drop. Right now it's over five but once upgrades resume consistently, they'll come down. The seniority list has to grow substantially, and it is, for the ual flying. It's a great place to hang your hat.

Results may vary.,

It's certainly not rosey here but we are in transition, but compared to other regionals, it could be worse.

Using current actual attrition rates, current actual new hire class numbers, and reasonable hiring targets stated by management, a new hire today will be about 50% seniority in a year. The 18-25 month upgrade is more like a worst case scenario.

If that's not enough there is no regional with a better bonus package--except maybe Envoy is equal assuming you don't have a 121 type. If you do have the type AW wins by a long shot.

Crews are by far the least disgruntled I've ever interacted with. Most people are proud to work here and actively try to welcome you/help you. It's a far cry from the typical impersonal mega-regional pilot mills I'm familiar with.

When you hear a few people talking trash about the company you have to keep in mind literallly every current base (maybe with the exception of ORF) is closing in the next 6 months with the transition from AA to UAL flying. It's not surprising some people are not pleased with the situation. This should make zero difference from a new hire's perspective though as long as you'll be happy with an IAD or ORD base. It's a 5 year CPA which means job security.

The health insurance is insanely inexpensive and good. You can literally have a surgery or a baby and pay a $15 copay. There's no deductible. Hospital visits have $0 copay. It's around 150/month for a single person. Tons of other industry leading benefits like 401k match. The trip/duty rig is massively beneficial and doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves with less efficient FAR 117 trips.

This place is as good as it gets. Don't listen to the naysayers.

Your koolaide must have been extra strong. Around 5 captains left last month, the other third were FO's, and the last third were new hire failures. Hiring targets mean nothing. Anyone can say they "plan to hire 3-400 next year."

To see the top 50% of the seniority list you need to be here going on 8+ years.

Good luck with the 18 month upgrade, which wait for it, was advertised 6 months ago. That means every FO on property should upgrade in 12 months, and everyone else continuously after. Never going to happen.

Half the people here commute. You only mention the transition from AA-UAL which shows your lack of knowledge on everything. Before AA there was USAir, and previously UAL. People didn't just up and quit when the bases changed. Some began to commute for the best pay/contract in the industry (which is still concessionary).

Oh and Norfolk is closing.

AWAC going from UA to US flying got a lot of movement going as quite a few left after that even with the 18 146 aircraft leaving. Upgrade time back then was around 30 months, or roughly 18 CAs a month leaving. The movement back then was pretty brisk.

Stop mentioning the 146. No one cares about that airplane. There are 10+ year CA's bidding reserve in ORD to not commute. That is the current realtity. Good luck with the 18-24 mo upgrade.

If that is what you took from my post then I guess we have nothing to discuss.

If the 800 target is an outright lie then you might be right. But the classes are running and 800 seems on target for 65 aircraft operating for UAL and it is achievable using current new hire class numbers in a year. Even with no movement that puts a new hire FO around 60% in 12 months. It's just math.