I've worked at both. Why I left Mesa for Envoy...

1- no affordable health insurance option at Mesa. Basically, no insurance.
2- pay so low it's not worth getting out of bed. By the time you factor in airport parking, airport food costs, hotels, tips for van driver, etc.
3- demoralizing hotel standards
4- Johnathon Orstein goes out of his way to antagonize and belittle employees.

110% agree with those statements. Mesa is a complete dump. Substandard pay, substandard benefits, substandard everything. I could KINDA understand why guys went there for the quick upgrade back in the day. But now that there are so many regionals you can go to that will pay you and give you a sub 2 year upgrade, there's absolutely zero reason to go to Mesa unless you have a DUI or multiple checkride failures. XJT was once a top tier regional. They have arguably the best contract/working rules out there. Unfortunately, their future looks bleak at best. It's a shame what's happened over there. Awesome group of guys and I wish nothing but the best for them.