Air Wisconsin Interview last Tues. (11/06)
 

Has anyone who was interviewed at Air Wisconsin in Philly last tuesday heard anything yet? I know it's still soon, but let me know if/when you've been contacted by them.

I interviewed the same day and I heard from them on thursday with a job offer. She seemed EXTREMELY busy so im sure you will hear something soon.

My recommendation would be to only go to air wisconsin as a last resort unless you live in domicle... of course let me preface this by saying last resort but before mesa, blowjets, and any other blood sucking airline. I used to fly for air wisconsin and there mang. team is evil. The only way to hold these mang. teams responsible is to try and prevent pilots form going there. In fact ALPA may soon be puttiung together a drive to prevent pilots from going to air willy. I left 6 months ago and have never been happier... spent 7 years there and feel like i would be doing a disservice to my fellow aviators if i let them go there without mentioning that the people who run air willy are unethical at best.....

Evil? compared with who? There may have been some shady things go on here in the past, but Evil... again compared to who? Which airlines have a better contract than us? I guess if someone has SJS republic may be a better fit... of course that would be flying a bigger aircraft for less money as an FO. I agree our bases suck, but honestly... EVIL seems a bit overstated.

I am amazed at how a little over a year ago, people who went to ANY jet operator had SJS; now only those who choose to work for RAH have the dreaded disease.. wow

Have you seen anything your own union has put out. I gave seven years to air willy and the mang. team there cannot be believed for one minute. Why don't inform everyone one this board what our own MEC is saying about air willy? I will sum it up in a few words. "DO I HAVE A FUTURE HERE" This is the message the Air Willy MEC is pushing... Not me... However I agree with them. The pilots that worked at air willy have been lied too over and over again. My question is why would you want to start there and work in that enviroment. Like i said there are better companies to work for... however if you want to live in philthadelphia, DC or ORF then the company makes sense. I would never recommend your fellow pilots try to work for air willy and have to commute. For those who want some insite as to the union stance at air willy check out this site. doihaveafuturehere.org Those who don't learn from history our bound to repeat it.

Air willy does have some nice contract things no doubt about it. I along with the hundreds that have left in the last few years worked hard to raise the industry standard. I along with the rest left because we were sick of getting shafted. All you ever heard is we are working on it. The company has not reinvested in there product for several years. Gready owners who have funneled large sums of money away from the airline. There's a lot of information to deceipher but reading between the lines made my decision much easier. The most effective way for air willy to change is for pilots to stop applying.. When pilots apply it only strengthens the management's way of business.

I've got some horrifying news for you buddy...

Pilots at EVERY airline get lied to by their management!

Why not get lied to while having an industry leading contract and pay?

I know i am at my third regional with 12 years experience thanks for enlighten me... My point is that air willy's own mec is telling people not to come there. Nothing will ever change for the better when people continue to put up with hostile mgmts. Many like myself have left but the problem remains trying to stop the flow of new hires from going there. I guess it just goes to show there is no strength within the pilot groups at this level. Contracts aren't worth the paper there written on when mgmt doesn't adhere to certain portions and implements there own quote unquote understanding. i.e reliability and commuter clause letters, just to name a few. I was home 8 days a month towards the end of my time at willy. No contract is going to make up for that! I was fairly senior by the way.. nice lines and QOL!!!

Who do you work for now??

Hey Softener, I know it's been a few more days, so you may very well have heard, but just so you know I was also called on Thursday with the offer. I also have to agree with DMEarc. Although this is my first regional job, I picked Air Wis as my first choice simply because of their contract and pay. I've heard good and bad from every other carrier, but no one else except Am Eagle can offer even close to the contract and pay that Air Wis does.

A place where his personal life is a lot better even though it's a 'regional'/contract carrier. Gets to drive to work.

I am home 14-18 days a month.... just had a 5 hour sit the other day in LGA because of a cancelled flight and got a day room at a hotel about 2 mins from LGA. The "DO I HAVE A FUTURE HERE" campaign is an attempt to get trip rigs restored 3.5:1 and the attendance reliability program eliminated. Trip rigs going 3.5:1 would take care of a lot of the other issues (commutability, schedules, etc.).

I enjoy AWAC.... has mgmt. done some shady stuff? Yes... but we are paid well for flying 50-seat aircraft compared to the rest of the industry. Day rooms are nice...beats sitting in the airport for 5 hours waiting for your next flight.... its not THAT bad!!!!

So people stop coming to class? Then what happens Vikz? Even more people get pi$$ed off because they are getting junior manned and upgrades come to a hault because they can't afford to pull FO's off the line to take a checkride from the other seat. The campaign will run its course...AWAC will continue to fill classes....and the sun will come up tomorrow.

Hopefully your new regional treats you better!

I got the call on Thursday as well. I am guessing that if you didn't get the call by Friday then you're not getting call but the dreaded letter instead.

I plan on living in domicile. I asked the chief pilot who interviewed me about why pilots would not be happy to work at AWAC (in reference to the DIHAFH? website). He said that the pilots who commute to work are the ones who are generally unhappy, and the ones that live in domicile are (very) happy.

I have worked many jobs in my life, and the bottom line is that unless you are the CEO or president of the company, you're gonna get screwed by management so they can make money off of you. Cry me a river, build yourself a bridge, and get over it.

I know what to expect, I know what I can fall back on if things go sour, and I know how to roll with the punches. Nobody said this job was easy.

Edited.....

I know Vikz09. Straight shooter. No BS.

Also, I am glad that you folks who plan to live in domicile can afford to do so. Me? I can't. I tried it.

I moved out of domicile because I expect more than a rat infested 1-room apartment in DCA for my salary. Or PHL (AKA - Killadelphia). Only ORF is mildly affordable.

Those who told you that only the commuters are unhappy are correct. But keep in mind that when the commuters were hired most of them were not commuters.

Think about that one...

True, he referenced many of the pilots who got left high and dry in Denver.

As for living in domicile, if it ever become a problem being able to afford the DCA area, then I will just have to find a well-off senators daughter to marry ;)

If you can afford DCA now (and your post implies that you can) then you are good to go.

I pay MUCH less for my mortgage back in the midwest (Air WISCONSIN anyone...) than for a smallish apartment near DCA would cost.

I tried it. For the East Coast Silver Spooners and Trust Funders (and there are some here) it's OK.

BTW, not only DEN got left high and dry. About 99% of the pilots got left high and dry. It can happen again. This used to be a career company. Now it's a stepping stone. Like all the rest of them.

Glad you got hired. It's a great pilot group.

You can look at Richmond, Baltimore, other areas in VA and MD. Also---PHL is not a nice place... but Delaware has a lot of nice areas. I've personally been to two of my buddies places there...and they are really nice, and affordable. It is what you make of it!

If you want to live next to DCA and 1 mile from Pres. Bush... you'll pay a premium. If you look 1 hour away (BWI, RIC, Delaware and some other towns here and there) you can find some really affordable places, and still sit RSV at home.

Again people are missing my point. Air Wisconsin if you decide to live in domicle or very close by. (i.e need to be within 2 hours of airport for reserve.. and with traffic that means no farther away than 50 miles from the airport) then air wisconsin is ok.. The "DO I HAVE A FUTURE HERE" has much more to do with the companies execs funneling money away from AWAC then anything to do with a 3.5 trip rig.. Read the site and formulate you own opinion but it has little to do with a trip rig. Although 3.5 trip rig would help it still will not solve the companies complete lack of progress on improving QOL. 6 years ago the line construction was united's fault, then airtran's (when we did the jet connect) now it's US Air's fault that the line construction is the way it is. The sooner people realize that Air willy's primary focus is to maximize return on profit and NOT on improving the pilots way of life or QOL issues the better. Hell i sat in a road show were the director of operations said as much. The kicker that expediated my decision to leave was when the CEO said the reason Air Wisconsin is not expanding is because our 401k is 3 percent higher then our competion. My response to him is that Air wisconsins owners apparently aren't interested in reinvesting in there airline. This is one of the reasons the union has come out with Do i have a future here campain.

I will gladly call air wisconsin a respectable carrier again when they give me and the other 300 plus pilots who quit the tens of thousands of dollars they stole from me and my ALPA brothers. Until that day the only way to show our displeasure is to try and make a difference. Many of us gave a good chunk of our lives to making the Air Wisconsin namesake the best in the business... True, we were well compensated but Air Wisconsin was not a stepping stone, everyone came from another carrier with thousands of hours of experience. If you wanted the best quality pilots you had to pay the best. Unfortunatly things have changed dramatically and Air Wisconsin finds itself in a no growth enviorment.. unless of course the pilots are willing to subsidies the growth, then management will gladly grow if the pilots finance it. Just make sure you understand the facts before going to any airline... current pay rates should not be the deciding factor.. Pay rates can and have changed over a weekend... I lived it.

Imagine that..... a companies focus being on maximizing return.... ( fwiw....i understand you point....it just sounds funny )

Other than that very nice post....