Compass or Envoy?
 

Hey All,

Wanted to get opinions on what you would do today based on your knowledge, if you were to choose between hiring on as a new FO with either Compass or Envoy, and why.

Assume all things being equal, except that my plans would allow me to eventually live at an Envoy base (and headquarters - DFW), whereas I would always have to commute with Compass.

I would really appreciate your insights with regard to personal experiences, travel privileges, length of your flying contracts, schedules, upgrades, QOL, etc.

Thank you.

While movement at Compass is pretty impressive (or at least will be), if you're debating between living in base at an American WO vs commuting to Compass, I'd say live in base. Unless living in DFW is less than your ideal situation, I'd give Envoy a very close look. Not sure how long it'd take to hold DFW, but look at the big picture: if your end goal is to get to "mainline," especially AA, with their current plan of hiring through the flow (for better or worse, but them's the breaks), I'd go to Envoy in a heartbeat. And I'm saying that as a Compass captain. Compass is a fantastic place to work with great crews, reasonable hotels, and lots of movement, but a fair number of people have those things. By going to a non-WO, I recognize that I'm shooting myself in the foot a bit for going to American, since they're unlikely to hire me (since I'm not former military). Your mileage may vary, but I'd go to Envoy in your situation. If you'd be living in a Compass base, or want to live in a Compass base, I'd say hands down come to Compass. Living in base is that big. But that's just my 2 cents.

Compass is a fantastic place to come to for west coast bases and the quickest upgrade on the west coast, but that's not necessarily what everyone is looking for. Best of luck in your final decision!

I’m pretty sure QX has the quickest upgrade on the west coast.

If you read the last few pages people are predicting fast movement. The trick for Compass is going to be keeping seats filled as people leave. The word is that Republic has a new TA boosting pay and a few other things. TSH has been a little slow at remaining competitive in this area. Time will tell, I guess

Go to the flow and live in base.

Compass is a great place to come to, Envoy is also far better these days than it has been. Just depends where you want to live, I'd agree if you plan to live in DFW unless you really wanna commute to LAX or PHX that you go to Envoy. But Redondo Beach isn't a bad place to live... or somewhere around PHX there are a lot of cheap nice places. Seattle... well nothing is cheap but it's a great area.
I don't think you can screw up either way, frankly.

DFW is the most senior MQ base right now with least amount of movement. A couple DFW pilots commute to LAX at CP because of that.

Does anyone live in the San Francisco area and commute to LAX? ( despite the likelyhood of it even happening)

There are lots of SFO commuters here at Compass. Plenty of flights (albeit usually pretty full). We operate a flight every hour for eagle. While there is only 1 Jumpseat, unlike our Delta birds (3), you can reserve it up to 5 days in advance. Also we do a lot of SJC and OAK flying if it really gets tight.