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-   -   American Airlines - Interns who applied (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/american/81166-american-airlines-interns-who-applied.html)

WhisperJet 11-06-2017 12:33 PM

Absolutely do the internship. I know of several interns who ended up being hired with less (even zero) turbine PIC time. It's essentially a 3 month interview. If they like you, you go to a short stack. If not, you might spend years and years wondering why they haven't called.

SurfOBX12 11-06-2017 12:47 PM

You can have 10k hours, LCA letter, and all the other boxes checked and still not get called. Making a connection from within could potentially give you the upper hand in getting hired in the future.

Flying Taco 11-06-2017 03:09 PM

I still have some time to decide which path I want to take going forward. I greatly appreciate everyone's opinion on this thread so far!

Buzzlightyear 11-06-2017 07:50 PM


Originally Posted by TrinityDawn (Post 2461259)
Another AA intern here that never heard a darn thing, no TBNT letter, 10+ years at Eagle/envoy, etc. Personally, at this point in time, I wouldn’t bother with an internship.

16+ years at eagle and never heard a peep after the internship. 4000 hours jet PIC, Check Airman, college grad. Internship was fun but didn’t give me any meaningful edge up on competition. In today’s environment anything that slows you down from flying 100 hours a month to get to 1500 should be avoided.

FraxAvi8tor 11-06-2017 08:32 PM

I would apply and see if you are even offered the internship, you could always say "no thanks", right? I'll state my experience here and people can take it however they take it.

I did a one semester internship about 10 years ago with a major airline, and at the time had every intention of becoming a professional pilot after that was completed--as I had dreamt about flying professionally my entire life. I graduated with two degrees and all of my ratings from an aviation university, and then went and did the internship. What I took away from the internship was that there were so many more opportunities at an airline besides flying, and that I had more interest in the business and operations of running one than I did in being in the front of a jet everyday. That translated into me going into operations and working my way up to where I am today, in a fairly senior role. I would never have imagined doing anything but flying, but I'm glad that the internship let me see another side of the business.

Today I feel like it'd be challenging for me to go back and fly professionally, considering the initial pay cut I'd take, starting at a lower seniority, etc., but it's still possible and I'd have an awesome fallback with all of my business experience if I didn't want to keep flying.

However, if I had only ever flown professionally, it'd be a much bigger gamble to the reverse, going from the cockpit to an office in hopes of working my way up from operations to higher level positions at an airline.

Anyway, that's just what happened for me from taking an unpaid airline internship, and I am always thankful for how that internship steered my career in the direction I took. Of course, everyones experience is different. Either way, it's just one semester, why not take the road less traveled considering how many years you have left in your career? Most people I interned with continued building hours and are now at major airlines, so you're going to be fine either way!

Sliceback 11-07-2017 06:18 AM

There are pros and cons to every decision. Assuming you go to an AA WO regional after taking the internship, and not flying for three months like your peers, you’ll flow to AA around three months, or more, after your peers do. You’ll lose $100,000 at the end of your career as well was being junior to those peers for your entire career.

TripD 11-16-2017 03:36 PM

Summer 2008 Intern, unpaid position. Graduated ERAU with the same gentleman’s agreement for an eventual interview after the doom and gloom days of the internship.

Flew the regionals and then wide bodies at some ACMI carriers while continually keeping in touch with coworkers, pilots and Chief Pilots. Job fairs plus letters of rec from many of the above and silence till early 2017 even though app was in since hiring began. Got hired summer 2017; good luck to all!

ejet 02-25-2018 09:57 PM

I’m thinking about applying for the summer internship at AA, is it really 6 months or can you do the standard May-August internship? Thanks

iHateAMR 02-26-2018 05:42 AM


Originally Posted by ejet (Post 2537262)
I’m thinking about applying for the summer internship at AA, is it really 6 months or can you do the standard May-August internship? Thanks

I’ll save you the trouble of scrolling up....


Originally Posted by Aviatrx (Post 2091847)
I was there in 2014. Crickets for me. Light volunteer work, about 1000 tpic, >7000 total, updated about every other month, no job fairs, 2 internal LOR's. They promised an interview. Not really sure when that is supposed to come to fruition. Sounds like it is hit or miss as I have heard some are getting the call. As far as I know, my app has not been booted. I am pretty disappointed thus far.


Originally Posted by patelam (Post 2275549)
...Of the 13 interns in my class, 1 actually wanted to work at AA after, I was on the fence, and a 3rd didn't ever, but got hired by USAirways! They screwed the interns in true AMR fashion, and from the sounds of this forum, they haven't changed much with the line pilots either. Good luck to all still trying to go back for the beatings.


Originally Posted by EMBFlyer (Post 2275660)
Someone asked about intern hiring at a Crew News session. Doug thought it was a wonderful idea and couldn't believe we didn't already do it. SH (Flight Ops Weasel) took the mike and basically said screw you to the interns and apply like everyone else. No one is special.


Originally Posted by mainlineAF (Post 2276366)
The only thing that isn't special is AA. Literally not one good quality.


Originally Posted by Buzzlightyear (Post 2461618)
16+ years at eagle and never heard a peep after the internship. 4000 hours jet PIC, Check Airman, college grad. Internship was fun but didn’t give me any meaningful edge up on competition. In today’s environment anything that slows you down from flying 100 hours a month to get to 1500 should be avoided.


SunDevilPilot 02-26-2018 04:24 PM

As a current intern here, I'll weigh in. I personally know of an inten from 2008 who just had an interview and got a CJO just last week (CKA, Piedmont). I have also met plenty of American pilots who were former interns. Some got here via the flow, others were lucky and got on off the street. For those that haven't gotten the call yet, I can't imagine why they don't have a shot in the future if they keep their apps current. As someone who sees the makeups of the new hire classes everyday, the competition for an off-the-street spot is fierce.

Being an intern does not mean you will get hired. It's on you to show the company you want to be there and can one day be trusted to fly their passengers around. This internship is a constant job interview, and you need to put your best foot forward at all times. At the end of the day, the people you work under carry a lot of weight in recommending you for hire one day.

Another thing to remember before applying is that you are not owed anything at AA nowadays. Times are good (incredible really) and the company is paying their interns (generously too, travel benefits included). Back in the bad old days, some interns were paid and some weren't, based on their GPA. From what I understand, the ones who weren't paid were given a handshake agreement for an eventual interview, and that seems completely fair to me. Like I said, times are different now.

One final word about the internship is that the number of interns has been reduced (because we get paid). In the old days, you would have groups of 20 or sometimes even 30+ interns, now it's just 3 per semester, and we're here for six months. What this means now is that you have more time to connect with (and if you're doing it right, impress) people than in previous years. If you work hard and put forth the effort at networking both during and after the internship, there is no way people will forget you for quite some time.

I'm incredibly lucky to be here and I think this will pay off in the end. I've met so many interesting and inspiring people, and regardless of how it plays out down the road, I'm a better (and definitely happier) person now because of this internship. Apply for it, get it, and do it.

Good luck to you as well as all the former interns trying to get on.


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