Got the CJO. Thoughts about Xjet ?
 

Good evening,
I’ve just got the CJO last week from Xjet. I already have close friends working there and they’ve been all giving me good news about it. I wanted to have your opinion about it. Is it a good idea to start my airline career there ? Can’t lie to you but i have alittle bit of the shiny jet syndrome so i’ve always wanted to get the 175, but at this point, my priority is to get Houston as a base since, i assume, it’s going to be alot easier for me to commute to there from Florida, and i might decide in the near future to move there since it’s not that different regarding the weather and the cost of living. The WO have been tickling me recently, because of the flow, but i’m not really after that as my 4-5 year plan is to fly a heavy cargo bird.
So any thoughts you guys would have about this would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Houston is going fairly junior, and a lot of flying on the 145 is shifting to IAH. If you get the 175, chances are long reserve in ORD. I'm still pretty new, but it's been a great experience so far. From my understanding, we have a ton of L-ASA at Kalitta flying heavy cargo. They are on my flights all the time on their way to work. While that is purely circumstantial, it certainly can't hurt.

I enjoyed my time at XJT. Good people. Good captains. Don’t get hung up on equipment. Focus on QOL.

Why no consideration for Florida bases? Or ATL or CLT?

Also, don’t call them “birds” :-)

Good luck! Hope you enjoy XJT if you choose them. Be careful on the forums. People either love it and spew half truths or hate it and spew half truths. Lol

Yes that’s what i heard about the 145 IAH, I don’t think it’s worth it to bid for the 175 now. I know the 175 is better and more spacious but the reserve time and the bases you get for it are just not what i want now. Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.

If you want Houston and fast upgrade, 145 at expressjet is perfect for you. If you get the 175 here that means 100% chance ORD and likely long reserve.

Latest base awarded for new hires are either ORD or IAH.

Still in training but all the instructors have been great and supportive. I do feel like I made the right choice of coming here.

You do need to know what you are getting yourself into though, look at expressjetfacts.com and be informed of whats going on. Not asking you to be grumpy before you even get here... but just know that not everyone here is happy with everything.

That’s what I’ve recently changed in my priorities. I don’t mind any equipment now as long as it would get me based in Houston. I think the seniority at the bases in either Florida at the other regionals or CLT at Xjet is just too much, i’ve heard things like 4, 5 and even 6 years ! And i think Atalanta wouldn’t be that much of a difference from Houston since i would still have to fly there, so I don’t think it’s worth considering the other regionals that have bases there, if there’s any, especially that all the people i’ve been dealing with at Xjet are really nice, professional and helpful.
Thanks for the info. And certainly i’ll keep the “bird” note in mind next time 😉

Thanks for the great info. And that link was definitely a great help, although one or two things mentioned on it seemed to oppose what I heard from people working there.

First off, congratulations. We look forward to seeing you on the line one day.

What things mentioned in the site are opposed to what you've heard people working here?

If you're getting your information from our recruiters, think of them as military recruiters... they'll tell you anything to get you in the door. You want 175 IAH, expect 145 EWR for the first 6 months. My favorite is all the pictures of our new hire classes that have the 175 in the background or the fact that none of our pilot recruiting pictures I've seen show the 145. Yet, we're flying 60ish 145's and only 25ish 175's. I'm all about getting as many pilots to come here to fly for ExpressJet. However, I'm also wanting these pilots to be informed and know what they're getting themselves into here.

Did I mention that we're only able to staff 60ish 145s and yet we're contracted by United to fly 126 145's? Why can we not fly 126 145's we're contracted to fly? Because we can't staff them. We have more pilots leaving than we can hire. Therefore, we continue to shrink. Pilots are leaving in droves because it's a pilot market out there. Everyone is hiring and everywhere is better (pay, QOL and most importantly career progression) than XJT.

If you still decide to come, yes, our ground and flight instructors are the BEST! As long as you have a positive attitude, don't blame anyone but yourself for mistakes or errors, and try to learn from your mistakes and errors, they'll help you through training. It's certainly not guaranteed, but they'll do their best to help you.

Thanks for the info. . I meant by “people working here” my friends who are pilots at XJT. I’m aware of how the recruiting business is, and one of my friends was awarded KIAH 145 last month after he was done training. The whole thing about the 30 145s sitting on the ramp because they’re under-stuffed is true though and I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future because of that, some people “pilots” say that the company will actually grow and that they’re expected to have 90 145s and 39 175s by the end of 2020 with a high probability of downsizing or even shutting down operations at EWR and going somewhere towards the west and the south. Others say that it’s shrinking. Which leaves me in confusion sometimes. I guess all we have to do is to blame it on Skywest then 😄

The thing that I disagree with in the link is the pay-scale. I’m aware that the EQO can be unfair sometimes especially to people who actually want to fly and would fly 85+ hr.s per month, which would be really possible if you’re flying the 145 and not like other places where you’re barely flying while you’re sitting on reserve for almost a year, and the premium pay impact because of that, but I don’t think that it would make that much of a difference to call the company one of the worst pay rates. One thing that I didn’t like though and seemed sketchy to me is the stories that i heard and read about the current CEO. Again, I’m totally new to the airline field and i might be misinformed sometimes, but that’s why i’m here trying to look at different point of views to figure out the whole picture.