Example Schedules
 

Have interviews coming up with ExpressJet, Trans States & Envoy. Interested to see examples of monthly schedules for a FO on a line. If anyone doesn’t mind sharing. Thanks

Maybe someone can provide you some schedules. However, I will say you will fly a lot. Most lines are 12 days off and 90-110 credit hours. This will be much the same as Trans States as they are also short on pilots.

Envoy will have you sitting reserve a lot and not flying as much. People are getting lines here very quickly.

As far as schedules, I doubt Trans States will be much different. Maybe slightly shorter segments.

Expressjet is a much better company than any Trans States Holdings carrier. Much more infrastructure and the backing of United. Look up Hulas Kanodia to see how he runs those companies (GoJet, Trans States and Compass). Not a good environment.

Trans States has a quicker upgrade but with 19-06 out soon it will come down to the same upgrade time unless you want ORD. Upgrade is still fairly senior there due to all the ASA guys moving in and the base shrinking. That too should change.

EWR and IAH on the EMB-145 will get you the quickest line and allow you to upgrade at or near the required 1,000 hrs 121 time or about a year and a half to two years.

Where will you live/commute from?

I've seen and heard enough to stay far away from Trans State/Gojet. Garbage companies and they seem to have way more stressful training than Xjet. All of this from personal accounts of people I know who have worked there.

Yep, not to mention that Compass pilots could get folded into GoJets/Trans States if they don't get more flying. Anything's possible be a bunch of more senior pilots getting put ahead of you isn't a good thing.

Expressjet with the backing of United is here to stay.

koolaid


......

Call it Kool Aid or whatever you want but I’d say things are going pretty well over here at XJT now with the investment from United.

Yep, he should take a look over at the Compass forum. Those guys aren't sure they'll even have a job in less than a year. Not to mention that Air Wisconsin's planes are extremely old and there's rumors the family who owns them wants to sell.

Saying we'll be around for a while is a good thing a routed in reality. Unfortunately we have some real toxic lifers (CRJ) who aren't appreciative to even have a job after their planes and bases left.

As much as I disagree with DoSomePilotStuf, he isn't wrong about these guys getting on board or leaving. Pick one or the other. We get you have to commute after years of driving to work and it sucks but we're also very sick of hearing about it.

Could we get back to the topic of the thread? It'd be great to see some more examples of a typical month for an XJT FO. As someone considering starting at XJT in January, it'd be nice to see what a typical month looks like to help make an informed decision.

November I got a relief line (June new hire). 85 hours credit, 15 days off, Thanksgiving week off. December schedule- regular line. 90 hours credit, 15 days off, work Xmas but have new years eve off

What base are you interested in selecting? Will help in getting the info you're interested in.

Cheers

What aircraft and base (if you don’t mind sharing)?

How about ORD? I’m starting training soon as well. I plan to bid for whatever airframe is likely to get me to ORD the quickest and has the better schedules. Appreciate your willingness to share this info with us FNGs.

So there's no 175 lines in ORD yet. The base is scheduled to open in January, so a couple months off.

The 145 in ORD has 90-100+ hr lines with 12 days off until you get more senior. They'll be 4 days on and 2-3 off. As your seniority climbs you should get wknds and holidays off.

Additionally, you can get more days off doing the line improvement window.

I can't speak to the schedules of those getting relief lines but maybe they can chime in.

175 ORD based. But like another commenter said, all the lines right now are our of IAH

If he/she is just starting training then ORD will be full swing on the E175 by the times he/she is out of training. ORD is pretty junior on both airframes.

Ord FO 145. 14 Days off, 80 hours credit. Almost all weekends off and commutable (for me). Couldn't drop the Christmas trip unfortunately but we'll see in SLIW. With holiday pay that should bump to 85 hours credit.

Not all lines are into the 100s on credit with 12 days off. It's easy to have more days off if you want when you're off reserve.

Edit: also still new, less than a year on line.

10m on property EWR FO hard line holder since August, average 65-90 credit hours, as a junior lineholder you will get only 12 days off, but during line improvement window you could get more days off or exchange your low hours trip for better one. For example for Dec I was awarded 96h line with 12 days off, during ILIW I traded my trips and got 19 days off with 64h of credit. Christmas Eve will be back around 7pm and New Year eve will be home

Thank you so much for your insight! I’ll be commuting from MCO but may also move to IAH. XJT is my top choice.

IAH likely

What about SkyWest in IAH? I heard they’re growing the IAH base. Just wondering what the feeling is like for SkyWest vs XJT for someone who lives in Houston.

No Union at SkyWest. That was enough to push me over to XJT, and I live in Houston.


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How do you like it there?

Example Schedules
 

Training took 4 months to completion of IOE, the 145 should be faster. Everyone I’ve flown with so far has been awesome. I wasn’t happy to be pushed to the ORD base on the 175, but I’ll be able to get back to IAH within a month or so after ORD opens.

When you get in the hotel van with a crew from American, at least it gives you confidence we have the hotel thing figured out, unlike some other regionals.


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Speaking of.. What are the typical hotel brands for you guys? LaQuinta?

Aloft, Hyatt Place, Westin, Doubletree, Fairfield Inn, Sheraton.


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XJT Pilots are the group that started the revolution. They were the first to vote "no" in 2013 and they've held the line since. Their union is incredibly strong and a number of the work rules they have in their contract have been around for over a decade. Their reputation for training is bar none.

Comparing XJT and SKW is like comparing apples to sea urchins. They couldn't be more different in reputation and corporate personality.

One thing to note: Because SKW is non union, they will never have any type of guaranteed interview or flow with ANY major carrier. ALPA carriers look out for other ALPA carriers..

^^not the thread that question was asked^^

You didn't ask me, but...
I've been at XJT for over 18 years. Second career after the military. XJT had a good reputation for training and growth at that time. It has maintained the reputation for great training throughout the turmoil of the last 12 years. Growth has been taken from us through various efforts by other regional competitors during that time. Despite the dark times from '08 to last year, the pilot group has been great. Generally, we take care of each other and care about what we do for a living. As an Alpa pilot group, we defend our contract and don't let attempts by management to violate the contract go unchallenged.

Our hotels are good, sometimes great. Long overnights of 15 hours or more are downtown and nice. Short are usually nearer the airport but still good hotels with options for eating. Like most things in this career, there are always exceptions. There are a handful of hotel locations with limited options for food. Our hotel committee has been doing a good job of finding good hotels for us.

Pay is good but needs attention and we are expecting a new TA within the next month with improvements.

It looks like you are leaning towards Skywest by some of your posts. Having a union is important as an airline pilot. You will have protections for your career that the Skywest pilot group can't provide. Read some threads about this and you'll see what I mean. If you are young, you have decades of flying ahead of you in a working environment that can trip you up in various ways. Without a union contract to cover your decision making and union volunteers that will fight for you, you will be vulnerable to the whims of management/the chief pilots office. The Skywest proponents will answer that by saying that they have their own "pilot group association" and working agreement with management. The big difference is that their agreement has no teeth and won't protect you if something bad happens. There are plenty of stories on APC of pilots who have lost their jobs at Skywest with no recourse. To a pilot who is new to the airline industry it is common to overlook the importance of union representation in your career. Until you need it, you might not care. When you do need it, you'll be very thankful you have it. The Skywest pilots will also crow about not paying union dues. All I can say about that is "You get what you pay for." I can say many positive things about what Alpa has done for our profession. I can't think of one thing that the Skywest pilots have done. They benefit from a lot of hard work from Alpa volunteers but talk trash about Alpa whenever they get the chance. I'm about to get off-track here so I'll just leave it at that.

Bottom line, you won't regret coming to XJT. With the benefit of 18 years of hind-sight, I can definitively say that you may very well come to regret working for Skywest. When I think about what being a Skywest pilot represents to the industry, I know that I would have regretted working for Skywest.

When I retire in a few years, I want to look back at my airline career and feel good about the character of my work and the character of the company I worked for. After what I experienced at the hands of Skywest, I could never be proud of having worked for that company.

I have made various posts over the years about what Skywest has done to XJT, feel free to look them up. I am not shy about what I think of them.

Back to the subject. Yes, I like working for Expressjet! I am proud to call myself an Expressjet Pilot.

Thank you for your thoughtful and detailed response. I appreciate it and it helps.