Funny! What would I be better off in at ORD? ERJ or CRJ?

 

Either or, I've been on the crj for 12 year so I'm partial to it. But lines suck on both, pay is the same. Erj, slow and loud, crj, fast and quieter then the erj, erj more bases, crj 1. Right now on the crj, schedules are bad as it gets, 11 days, off 4 on 2 off. High credit is around 81. Same couple of airports, it's getting pretty repetitive.

 

Wow! Really good info. How long do you think I'd be on reserve on the CRJ in ORD? How long would I be on reserve on the ERJ in ORD? I'm not trying to insult you, but please tell me you are a CA after 12 years with this company? If you've been there that long, and I think you have, don't the schedules get better than only 11 days off per month? I am really interested in what you have to say. Thanks.

 

He should be considering upgrade is at like 5.5 years. Average days off for November ORD CRJ was the worst at 12.49 days DFW EMJ was the best at 13.65 days now that's an average of the whole bid packet. with 11 days off being the contract minimum.

 

PSA has the SAP, so they can do a lot with their schedules. I'm sure the PSA guys can chime in with more about how that system works in their thread or via PM. The question you have to ask them is how long it takes to hold a SAPable line in a commuter friendly base. It's probably not going to be quick, but if they grow and their list starts moving again, it might not be too long either.

At Envoy, we have a trip trade program that lets us move things around. It's not as good of a tool as the SAP, but it works for me. I added a day off and got Thanksgiving off just last night using a trip trade. So I'm up to 15 days off, with Thanksgiving off, not bad for a FO bidding 60% in ORD. The credit sucks and I'm working every weekend, but you've gotta pick your battles with these schedules.

I'm hopeful that the flight file from AAG and our lines improve in January. It takes longer to make those types of changes than something like a pay increase. Since Kirby left, I think AAG has realized we need productive flying to be successful. I'm willing to give them until January to see if they'll follow through. If they don't improve them by then, they probably never will.


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It's a tough call on whether to go CRJ or 145 right now. There are a lot of unknowns with both fleets.

The CRJ is a smaller fleet and could be going away starting in 2017. If they shrink the CRJ staffing numbers through attrition without a displacement, you could end up stuck on reserve with no new hires coming in below you. That could also leave the airframe overstaffed, it's hard to match airframe shrinkage and attrition, and your time on reserve could be spent sitting at home. They could also run a displacement and you'd have a choice of whatever seat/base your seniority could hold at that point.

The ORD 145 base is also in a bit of flux. We do a lot of flying through NYC and MIA out of ORD right now. If/when those bases open, the lines in ORD could take a hit. We're also seeing a lot more Skywest planes at the Eagle gates in ORD lately. I think they're covering mostly old Republic routes, but they're there and ready to take over should Envoy need to take pilots from ORD 145 and put them somewhere else.

I don't think ORD is going anywhere, but right now is probably the biggest it will be. I think there could be a little shrinkage there in the future.


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Good info on the above posts. can anyone chime in with latest details on DFW 145? Isn't it the most senior base/fleet combo in the system? Average days off in bid packets, time on reserve, typical credit etc... Just curious how life is over there now and the outlook.
Will the 145s going back to envoy remain in DFW?

 

Lines in DFW were much better in Nov than in October so it's hard to say what it will look like going forward. Still I think half had 15 or more days off. Reserve is a roller coaster. Some times it's good some times it sucks. 2.5 years is the current reserve time in DFW. Pilots are currently waiting one year to transfer to DFW.

However, these numbers will drop. Dozens of ORD 145 FOs are about to finish training and when that happens there will be a steady stream of pilots coming online each month. So once the stagnation gets pushed through then we can give you a realistic number you could expect.

 

2.5 years of reserve sounds terrible! But I hope you're right about times dropping. I really want DFW 145 because the in-laws live there and I would prefer an extra $5K over SJS.

 

Anybody have info on LGA? Opening date? Airframe?