American hiring preferences
 

Hello,

I am currently flying 91 corporate for a fortune 50 company. I have previous 121 and 135 time and have had my app in with American for the last 8 years. It seems the only way to get an interview with American is either being military or through an Envoy/Piedmont/PSA flow. Does American hire 91/135 candidates? Thank you!

I think you need to know someone. Every person I know that got hired off the street there already worked at a wholly owned or B their parents are pilots there. I don’t even update that app anymore. I think they hired less than 40 civilian off the street this year...

Thats what I've gathered as well. Thank you

Other then money why are you looking to leave a Fortune 50 company?

I'm guessing money, stability, schedule, benefits, quality of life, and so on.
Most Fortune 5xx jobs suck compared to legacy jobs. The few unicorn jobs are extremely competitive, and not that stable (case in point: GE).

Networking, making new contacts, job fairs, volunteering, have to stand out someway

I’ve only received the video interview invite but am a current 91 pilot who flew 121 about 10 years ago

Do you have any letters of rec from an AA pilot on file? You need to. Several.You are also going to have to network, and make a contact with someone high up in management.
As was said, it's extremely difficult to get hired civilian outside the flow.

Tell your dad to get a job at American as a pilot then to recommend you. Seems to work for most.

Where's that Morgan Freeman "he's right, you know" meme?

I have to believe the military pipeline is drying up.

Friend was offered a interview and accepted the job outside of the flow and no military time. 16 LORS fwiw

The take rate on the bonus for staying in would say otherwise. Combine that with the programs being offered for rotor pilots to enter 121 and the only thing that’s gonna stop the exodus is a recession and hiring stopping.

Wish I knew. Flows and military jet pilots make up nearly 90% of their new hires. Working on my Master's, have continuing volunteer work, former military (not jet). No LORs, don't know any AA pilots.

Good luck

Somewhere, someone you know, knows someone who does. You are going to have to get creative. Do you work for a regional? Most regional pilots run into lots of other airline pilots. That's how the networking comes in.

While that is definitely a trend, there's much more to the story than that. Just having family member at AA isn't the end of the story, it involves a ton of networking and prep that many at the regionals write off as nepotism. Meanwhile, they devote zero time to their apps and networking while wondering why they haven't gotten a call. Some with parents at AA have even received the call and got turned down for one reason or another. Others never get the call at all.

Networking aka mom and dad make their FOs write their kid letters of rec. Still nepotism no matter how you want to cut it.

In AAs defense they said if you want to work here go to a wholly owned.

It’s not nepotism that limits the OTS hiring of civilians. It’s the flow. I don’t like it either, but Im not king. If I were, Id $h!t can the flow and hire 1/3 mil, 1/3 civ 121, and 1/3 civ 91/135. It’s not easy for line pilot parents to get their kid (or anyone they recommend) hired here. I wish it were, I wish they took pilot recommendations more seriously. It’s mostly HR’s game now.

I have no heartburn with mom and dad getting JR a job. In my class there were a three guys I went "wow, they are really lucky to be here". One was a straight Part 135 guy, the other two were military but with barely 2K total hours. All three had either a dad or uncle advocating for them. I think it is cool but you cant use the Part 135 guy as an example of how it is possible because of the dad factor. Dont look at the 1900 hour military guy and say "oh I have enough time" unless you have an uncle as a CP.

Once again, I hope to get my kid on at low time also.

There is NO shortage of military guys to fill the off the street slots. On a side note. I knew NO ONE at American and had only 200hrs of jet time (none military) when hired. I am retired military with 8K hours. I was surprised I got called, I had kinda given up on AA ever calling and my application was a little out of date. Keep trying.

Well I think the Air Force makes around 400 pilots a year, so the pool for all airlines should be around that, plus how many ever USN, USMC, and USA have which probably doubles that number. Just spitball here, no firm numbers.


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[QUOTE=ps2sunvalley;2872268]Well I think the Air Force makes around 400 pilots a year, so the pool for all airlines should be around that, plus how many ever USN, USMC, and USA have which probably doubles that number. Just spitball here, no firm numbers.

Its closer to 800-900/year. 15 classes a year, avg about 20 per class, across 3 bases. Rumor mill says they want to up classes to 30-35 studs.

Would a 91/135 applicant with D.O./Chief Pilot/Check Airman experience as well as a sibling that is a captain stand a chance?

91/135 DO/CP? Probably not. 121, Maybe.

[QUOTE=Beech Dude;2872277]APLA put out a video not too long ago explaining that we are not in a pilot shortage but a pay shortage. according to that about 2,000 pilots seperate from the military every year ( i assume this is fixed and rotor wing, all branches)

[QUOTE=ps2sunvalley;2872268]Well I think the Air Force makes around 400 pilots a year, so the pool for all airlines should be around that, plus how many ever USN, USMC, and USA have which probably doubles that number. Just spitball here, no firm numbers.


The Air Force alone makes approximately 1200 per year and is looking to increase that number to 1500 in the near future.

[QUOTE=HiFlyer992;2872442]Ya... 400 is not even in ballpark

A quick internet search showed that at the end of the 18 Fiscal year the AF had 21,000 pilots alone. Also, 1500 is the target by 2022 and I’m pretty sure it’s been over a 1,000 for a while. Take away Guard and Reserve who are already at the airlines, full-timers, those under commitments due to bonuses/UPT/school/etc, and those who will never go to the airlines for one reason or another, and I’d still bet a few thousand are standing on the sidelines who could apply at any time. Add in fact every year hundreds reach the end of there commitments/reach retirement and I think it’s a fallacy to believe that military hiring at the airlines is going to slow down or there is some set number in the pool. Probably the opposite as long as economy is good. In my very small bubble, even those who Had no desire to be a airline pilot are starting to stick their toes in the pool. And that is just the AF.

Just my opinion so take it for what it’s worth

They want to be able to staff their regional flying, and using the flow to do just that. Maybe in a few years, if the economy holds up, there will be more hiring for OTS guys. Just the reality of it right now.

This.

The flow isn’t about filling seats at mainline. It’s about keeping costs at the regionals low and attracting a steady supply of applicants. There are a lot of savings to be realized by having WO regionals / flow programs.

It isn’t as if they are giving their WO pilots a class at AA out of the kindness of their hearts. It’s purely a financial decision for them. While I personally don’t have many big complaints about my time at the WO I work at, generally speaking our contracts / pay / QOL are behind what other regionals are paying. No one comes to and stays at the WOs because they’re the best regionals. We’re mostly here for the flow. If the flow goes away so will many of AA’s WO regional pilots.

I personally know a handful of people who were hired at AA exactly because of mom/dad pulling strings for them, and said people would otherwise not have been even remotely close to competitive with the average civilian OTS hire.

More power to them mind you. It is what it is and I would take the same opportunity as well had I been in their shoes, but I can't ignore the details that I know about with regards to the circumstances some of these individuals were hired under and just pretend that they weren't effectively gifted their opportunity. Such is life.

And I know an LCA who’s dad was a former Chief at USAir. He had an interview with AA and also had a job offer from Delta at that time. Only place he ever really wanted to work was AA. You know what they basically told him in the interview? “If you want to go to AA you should wait to flow.” Spoiler alert he went to Delta.

Ah, I see the problem here. His dad shouldn't have been a former chief! :D

This is incredibly hard to believe and goes against everyone I’ve met in the interview department, and my own experience. We don’t do much well, but we have the best interview process, don’t try to trash that.


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I too find it extremely hard to believe. I’ve heard of recruiters at job fairs telling WO pilots basically “you have flow, you’ll get here eventually.” But you don’t make it to an actual interview without them wanting to hire you.

Exactly that’s just the game. I understand and would do the same. Just don’t tell me you magically got on because of luck and your amazing networking skills.

I am the first to admit I was hired at LUS because no one else really wanted to go there. My competition was not CKA, or space cadets, or Air Force One pilots. It was Joe sitting next to me in the crew room wanting to GTFO of the RJ rat race. Here's one for "team member average Joe".

That was a great move by you.
It's a fact that AA makes an effort to hire sons and daughters of their pilots. They definitely acknowledge that. Although it rankles some, I think it's a nice idea to acknowledge their legacy pilots, and these hires have to meet the minimum. Some of the biggest objectors might someday agree if their sons or daughters are flying.
I did recently hear of an AA 787 CKA son, who happened to be a F-35 driver be rejected on the compatibility questionnaire. He was told to reapply in six months. He immediately went to Delta.

25 internal recs, two family members with 35+ years at usairways. Never a peep. Ended up flowing.

That had to be frustrating. How many years from start to flow?

It really wasn't bad. Frankly I hit the jackpot.
5 and a half years. Just wanted to share my experience.
Upset my parents more than anything. When they spoke to HR they were essentially told that they (hr) didn't care.

My experience in Aviation has always been to expect the worst case scenario and hope for the best. It's worked so far nothing has surprised me in a negative way so far.

Really? Where is that acknowledged? I've heard the exact opposite from official channels...ie no preference for family or folks you've written LOR's for. It was a few years ago that I heard that statement though, so maybe its changed.

All I know is that as of early last year they had to given favorable treatment. There is no way a mid 20's Part 135 pilot with no other special skills would get hired unless his Dad was a CPT who got his app pulled. No way man.