This post and others, all good points.

Do legacy carriers value A320/B737 type and time any more than CRJ/ERJ time? Or I should say, is that time, type and experience worth the drawbacks of Allegiant, vs what I could get at a regional?

 

Allegiant is substantially better than a regional.

Go and get the bus type. Fly as much as you can and goto a major. If you are geographically flexible allegiant is not a bad place. It’s just not as good as a legacy. It is however better than a regional.

 

What makes you say that, compared to what others have mentioned?

 

The obvious delta is the pay rates. Neither allegiant nor a regional should be a planned final destination. If you can live on allegiant pay for a year i would suggest you ignore the 2024 pay and think about what you can be making in 2034

I don’t know the allegiant training pipeline, but the regionals are having trouble. They lack captains. Hiring more FO’s makes the problem worse both by bloating payroll but also diluting the flying FO’s need to reach 1000 hrs (and eligibility to upgrade). Because of this, regionals 1) aren’t hiring fo’s, or 2) are hiring fo’s very slowly 3) are prioritizing captain upgrades and introducing long training delays for new hires 3) may have very little flying for reserve fo’s. The regional industry just isn’t a reliable source of quick, quality time accumulation anymore.

There’s also the issue of Allegiant selling its own tickets. G4 isn’t going to abruptly shut down one day because someone turned off the subsidies. That’s a substantial risk to any regional carrier.

 

Allegiants training program will be significantly more difficult for a 141 CFI compared to a regionals program that was designed for that level of applicant. Allegiants training is decent but you have to know 121 ops and rules to really be successful here. The airbus V1 cut is the easiest in the industry but if you don’t have the procedural mindset that the regionals Instill; you will find yourself drowning. Teaching yourself allegiants manuals, call outs, and procedures Is overwhelming and we have the highest retrain rate we have ever had right now. If you pull it off it can be a great move, but if you fail your first 121 PC, enjoy being stuck here for your career. Think of it as a high risk, high reward decision.

 

From the view point of legacy recruiters RJ PIC time is still significantly more valuable than Airbus SIC time, which is only slightly better on the resume vs RJ SIC time. In the short term your resume might look slightly better (while taking a higher risk of a failure here) vs a regional FO with everything else equal but once the RJ FO quickly upgrades they will most likely get a call before you. Yes plenty of people are hired without TPIC but why purposely put yourself at a disadvantage for a lot less pay. Upgrade is slowing as the list/airline shrinks with attrition. In the last year all of the small amount of upgrades offered have gone to 6 years on property except 1 award that went 4 years. Regardless your timing into this industry is great overall and the fact that you're taking the time out to analyze the best path to your final destination is very smart. Best of luck to you.

 

All very good points! Thank you for the wisdom.

 

Do you want to work at Allegiant above all others? Then come work here. Do you want to be at a legacy airline? Then go to the regionals, pay your dues for a 3-5 years, collect your bonus checks, and move on. I am guessing you are a young guy from your post, you have your whole career ahead of you. Years back, the average age of a new hire major airline pilots was about 34, you will probably beat that average substantially and have the opportunity to sit in the left seat for 35 years of your career.

 

It seems like Allegiant is starting to get into the "pathway" game with R-ATP and RTP new-hires. Might this new demographic re-shape your training program to be more forgiving like the Regionals?

And just curious: what makes an Airbus V1 cut any easier than a Boeing?

Thx

 

Should it encourage us to change our training program: maybe… even if we did it would take 5+ years. Also most regionals will be AQP, allegiant is a PC and recurrent every year.

Normal law, AP usage, beta target ect… the air bus is widely recognized as a much easier airplane to fly than the 737