For the DECs hired within the past year, how's life? Schedule, trips, reserve? Is a crash pad necessary? Also, any idea how long this program will last? Will the sign-on bonus continue, or possibly increase? I was offered the December 14th orientation class but can't make it so it looks like early 2024 if they'll still take me.

Thanks.

 

It's all about your expectations! Money is great, and reserve will be for at least 1-2 years, depending on base. Maybe a bit less now that all 145 guys have transitioned to 175. If you know that going in, it's a breeze. I chose to live in base, commuting on reserve is misery, even if you get 4 commuter hotels.
We're still losing about 35 CA/mo on average, so I suspect 2024 will see similar hiring practices.

Training is chaos, but relatively easy, all things considered. Scheduling has high turnover rate, so you can expect consistent madness when on reserve. Otherwise flying is ok, airport standby is painful. But overall, I'm getting paid good $ to sit reserve in base, and I have no complaints.

I was hired in Feb, several classmates have moved on to AA, UA, SW...

 

As mentioned. Live in base! Some don't fly for an entire month while on reserve. Senior enough to not get used but not senior enough to hold a line. PHX folks tend to get Deadheaded out to do other base flying. Live in base and you don't get used so what? Count it as another day off. At a regional, you are always going to have new and inexperienced people. Be it sitting next to you (although the majority are great), in scheduling, dispatch, etc. I like flying with new people who are hungry to learn. The ones that have been flying for 2 months and say they will be at Delta at the end of the year. Well, good luck with that, and good for you if you can make it happen. I could be elsewhere in theory but I refuse to commute and my family doesn't want to move. FAMILY first for me.

For me, it was about the money and base. I can make decent money, at least until the rates reset IF they do at the end of 2026 and I can LIVE in base. Commuting is miserable. Commuting on reserve well....... I just sat for 4 days at home and didn't get used. This puts me on the winning side of days off vs days on. Sitting in and paying for a hotel for 4 days is not what I want to do. Plus commuting to that... no thanks.

Our 8-hour Airport Standby shift is ridiculous. It should be half that. Some guys bid it I guess. No thanks.

Training I had no issues. Some people struggled a bit but everyone that wanted to get through it made it through. IMHO training is more than thorough. With that said you learn almost everything on the line. I had plenty of great FOs help me as I was getting used to the airplane and the Envoy way. I just told them it is Captain practice for when they upgrade and fly with new people.

You can always find disgruntled people but my experience has been overall good. While on reserve just take it that some of what they do will not make a lot of sense. This seems to happen most everywhere though including AA. The good thing is we DON'T DO Redeyes! At this stage in my career, I would rather fly one leg, sit for 2 days, and fly 1 leg home while on reserve. I don't want to be a junior line holder doing nothing but red-eyes elsewhere. I don't care how much I fly as long as I can maintain proficiency. I rarely pick up OT. I like my time at home.

Folks who were already planning to leave when they had one foot in the door didn't take the bonus. This simplifies not having to pay it back. You always have that option.

I would expect attrition to slow in the next 2 years. The majors can't keep highering at the rate they have been doing the past 2 years.

I hope this helps and good luck. As I have stated in other posts I am grateful for the opportunity. My previous corporate gig went poof! This allowed me to not start at the bottom again.

 

Approximately how long might a DEC expect to wait to hold MIA CA? (As I understand it, recently most DEC's are intitially going to ORD)

 

It takes 9-12 months.... Last CA in MIA was hired in Feb23

 

How are 121 experienced FOs (not at 1000 121 hrs) getting along as far as base assignments? Are they lumped in with DECs or FOs?

 

There is one pilot seniority list. New hire class seniority is given first to cadets by date of entry, next to pilots with prior Part 121 time by hours highest to lowest (950+ makes you a DEC and less makes you a high time FO), then to off the street hire FOs from oldest to youngest.

I have heard that FOs are generally given the choice between DFW, ORD, and PHX and usually get what they want. DECs are often given the choice of ORD or nothing. It's not the end of the world if you don't get what you want in class, there will be more bid awards. Commuting for a month is character building. Envoy covers 4 commuter hotels a month and you can share them with your classmates if you want. Some people get a crash pad but most move or use hotels. One DEC I talked to rented a studio apartment in his base while mostly living in a house somewhere else.

 

Great and helpful answer, thanks

 

Any word on DECs after March 31st? Is Envoy still planning to hire DECs and offer the bonus going forward after March?

 

Envoy has extended the bonus offer for DECs 4 times for 3 months each since it was first introduced in the beginning of 2023 and it is very likely that they will extend it again.

Envoy is trying to grow this year by adding airplanes. We still have 5-10% more FOs than captains, and even if attrition slows down, I don't see them slowing hiring any time soon. We should in theory try to get more captains than FOs since we have captains in management and training positions and captains take more vacation.