It is the most senior FO base and the second most senior captain base. It is not on the chopping block. They could easily double the size of IWA, but they will probably let it continue to stagnate like all of the big bases so that they can continue to open 2-3 bases a year.


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has had more movement than sfb, especially about a year ago with some of the new routes that were added and some fos actually upgraded in Iwa. These new routes also helped with the summer seasonality lull so there haven’t been as many tdys out. However, the list of new hires waiting to get in is over 15 deep and there haven’t been any vacancies created in many months. The airport is expanding but that may not mean anything (sfb also expanded recently). The long waiting list means it could take years to get in. The better reserve qol than sfb means fos aren’t desperate to quit or move bases. We saw this when only one iwa fo moved to pvu.

Hopefully it’s becoming clear that the places most people want to live in….Bellingham, LA, Vegas, Phoenix, Florida - are very senior have waiting periods to get in or you get in at the bottom & stay at the bottom. And you may think reserve can’t be that bad - you have no idea the liberties they can contractually take & how bad your QOL will be in LAS or FL. Plan on a small rustbelt base for reasonable movement & lifestyle, or move on. Plenty of other fish in the sea folks….

Yes and to add to this: you can't apply as a SFB instructor or LAS instructor. G4 is the only 121 airline with 2 training centers so you'll bid in the pool of instructors and if you're a junior instructor living in SFB you'll most likely be awarded LAS every month. Sadly commuting to LAS as an instructor would actually be better QOL vs reserve in SFB. As others have mentioned, F9, NK, WN would be much better options since they all have MCO growth. SFB used to have about 90 pilots per seat and has shrunk down to 55.

Also, PVU is going to steal quite a bit of flying from IWA. Not just flights between IWA, PHX, and PVU, but they'll also likely cover a lot of flights IWA used to do as inside turns through IWA (for those of you not down with allegiant jargon, "inside turn" is a 4 leg day where you do a round trip through another city for your two middle flights. Usually it's through another base or a city where we have a lot of flights). That's what happened to Florida when the north and central bases opened. We lost all direct flights to those cities, plus they did a lot of flying through our bases as inside turns. Left us with all the crap trips.

Exactly. Anyone thinking about coming here needs to understand this. DSM, ATW, GRR, FNT, ABE, and whatever city they come up with next (I still say RFD, BLV, and SBN are next up) will always be junior. Don't come here thinking you'll live your best life in Florida, Vegas, or Phoenix. Even if you eventually get to a desirable base, you'll never move up because it's a pyramid scheme and nobody above you leaves. Even some of the small bases have gotten that way because captains bit the bullet and moved their families there and they ain't leaving.

So everyone is bailing and there is no upward movement. Which message is it so I can keep up with the thread?! 😉

Yep, everyone is bailing from all of the crappy bases. There is no upward movement in the desirable ones. Did that help clear it up?? It’s been said time and time again exactly which bases would be a good choice for a new hire today. This isn’t new information.

I think Rockford is referring to Margi's comment about the small bases being a pyramid scheme where nobody ever leaves, yet attrition is terrible and they are leaving the small midwest bases. The truth is, if you are okay living in a smaller/newer base like PVU, DSM, GRR, FNT, ABE, etc. this could be great place to get your type, sit easy reserve (reserve utilization in our small bases is near the bottom of the industry per our Union) and build some seniority then you could very happy here.

Like has been a said a million times, don't expect to have a good QWL while living in LAS, Florida, or Mesa.

This is a straight up lie. I’m a June new hire and could’ve held FLL for December and currently hold PGD for January 1st

He’s probably looking at the last monthly bid alignment not the permanent bid you’re talking about. The essence of what he’s saying still holds true.