Thunderpig

For one, the military is no longer professionally run...the shoe clerks (like the bean counters here) have taken over and turned it into a nightmare. Training, agreed...AF pilot training is certainly manned by people who care and work hard. Nearly flawless MX...umm, yeah...not quite. If it were left up to the crew chiefs to get the job done, then maybe...again, idiotic shoe clerk managers spoiling the show. The AF, like Allegiant to many of you, was the place to be but now is removing all that was once good, for the sake of a few people who wouldn't win a trophy if everyone didn't get one.

Thunderpig

Corn...PM me when you get the chance...

full of luv

Maybe, but your perception is skewed, trust me. The one thing the military has going for it is the continuous turnover so no matter how bad one leader is there's a chance that the next one will be better. That and there is not an insane drive towards ever increasing profits, in fact the military actually just wants to perform to it's budget so that they can ask for more next year, that's the way you grow government style.
Both recce and any mil retirees should be good candidates at Spirit and Jet Blue as well if you are aiming for a small carrier that serves Las Vegas. I'd even apply to Alaska and SWA but they may be larger carriers than you are looking for. Last option would be Hawaiian as they are a smaller carrier that has lots of service to Vegas, you'd have to commute but at least your pay would trump what Allegiant is offering.
The only way for Allegiant to get the message that what they are offering is not kosher is for pilots, especially retiring military ones, to quit applying and accepting jobs there.
LUV

full of luv

Thunder,
Do not sell yourself short. Your military retirement makes you a prime new hire candidate. You will probably not take health benefits which saves the company money and you will be generally perceived to be a company man with at least 20yrs of "get the mission complete" mentality drilled into your psyche. At least convert that experience, and benefit that will only exist in the hiring mode into a decent pay rate with QOL, otherwise you are really just wasting it.

CornRecce

Sent you a PM.

Xbone

Luv gets it. Recce if your from vegas, spirit would be better, and then Jblue. You might get vegas base soon, who knows. Or, we are putting new hires directly in the bus out of florida. If you could stand being stranded there, pick up the bus type and side-step over to Spirit or Jblue.

CLMP

I have never been in the military so I will take you at your word. However, everything is relative. Correct me if I am wrong, but you are in training and have yet to hit the line. Once you do, you will experience things that will make your jaw hit the floor. While the AF may not be the place it used to be, I surmise that it is still a structured environment. You are about to enter a world of chaos the likes of which you may have never seen.

avi8t

So I am considering leaving a regional to come over to Allegiant and have a few questions if any current pilots there can answer.
How long right now does it take a new hire to get back to LAS? Have normal reserve? Hold a line?
Are the trips on the airbus similar to the MD where everything is an out and back or are there multi day trips?
Is it ever possible to have 3 days off in a row?
Are weekends off ever a possibility?
I have read that upgrade is 5 years in one post and then a few months in another post. Both cannot possibly be true. How long is it right now to upgrade?
Is the hotel paid for during training?

Thunderpig

I get that...the comparisons I draw come from watching the pendulum swing a few times, but never have I seen morale so low (speaking of the AF). As to what you guys are going through, we are all aware and working to get as much info as possible, though, we all understand that part of the process of doing this job is something that we will just have to deal with. The jaw has already hit the floor once, given how much pain the training department is in right now, but who knows...perhaps that injunction will be a tipping point...after the appeals process. It's telling that training and the effect it had on the bottom line (per the last email I saw) was even mentioned. Have you seen that before?

eagleatr

Getting back to LAS is hard to say. It can take anywhere from a month to a few years. If they are going to really be hiring in the numbers they say, it shouldn't take very long at all.

Right now, all the trips are scheduled as day trips. Due to the brilliance of our operation, some of the four leg days are turning in to three leg days with an overnight. There may or may not be multi-day trips in the future. The company doesn't share their plans with us very far in advance.

There is no "normal" reserve or line holding right now. Under PBS, at least in my base, almost every line is mixed reserve and flying.

It's possible to get several days off in a row. However, it's up to the company right now with how they manipulate the schedules during the bidding process. It seems the junior people get everything they want, and the senior people get nothing they want. The court order should be changing the whole process soon, I hope.

Weekends off are possible, but it depends on the time of year. Some months are really, really busy, and some months are not. We are going back to no fly Tuesdays and Saturdays, so you would probably get those days off.

The company came up with this brilliant idea of a TDY base. The junior person that bid captain for that "base" was hired in December, 2013, and has been on line about a month or maybe two. If you don't mind being the companies slave and having no life, the upgrade can be short. If you want to be in a regular base, the upgrade is running 3-4 years. I'd love to explain the TDY base idea to you, but the company has no idea how they are going to handle it.

The last I knew, there was no hotel provided during training, unless they send you somewhere outside of Vegas. Rumor has it they may start putting you up in Vegas also, but I don't know if that's true.