So United might take an XJT FO?

Please specify which pilot group has eternal reserve and how you came about this information. I know the ASA side doesn't have reserve as long as you are claiming. I will give you the upgrade thing. As of now it is forever long but things can change. Who knows. But the training is top notch and quality of life is still better than other regionals.

People who have well rounded resumes and only need to get current or some 121 time. People who are close to being selected by mainline before they even start at Express jet. Then the company can say how many Fos are getting hired without upgrading then the real idiots apply that think they can do the same.

Huh? How is being 2+ years on reserve/ready reserve good QOL? So you're basically ok with making $25/hour with no incentives whatsoever just so that you can live in base? You have got to be kidding me. No major will hire an XJT guy over any other regional airline. Their metric and algorithms don't give you more points for coming from XJT.

Our regional is a refugee camp for former XJT pilots and not a day goes by when I don't hear a horror story of 7 year FOs who never got anywhere there.

Who is making $25 an hour? Certainly not an XJT pilot.

It's a figure of speech to make a point of the bigger picture. $36@75 hours guarantee with 11-12 days off per month while sitting in never ending reserve does not sound like QOL to me compared to other regionals that pay the same and where you can credit 115 hours and have a line in 2 months and an upgrade to $70/hour in 15 months.

Sorry but there's just no excuse. Reason I feel so strongly about this is because it's 2016 and it's a pilot's market. Nobody should be on reserve longer than 2 months nowadays, but to each its own.

I don't know who you are, but I want to fly with you!

ASA definitely has 2 plus years of reserve. I recently flew with a captain who has been at ASA for 16 years and told me he has reserve for the first time in his career next month. This place is lifer capital. Hey, nothing wrong with that but it holds back young pups like myself from progressing. It is one thing to have QOL, and another thing to be blind enough to not see how you're hurting yourself.

Reserve here gets longer each month. 7/900 reserve is stagnant and doesn't move one bit. Been here a year and can't even hold LCR. Switching to the 200 is increaseing workload drastically. Doing 5-6 legs a day all while taking a $3 pay cut.


You can increase your QOL by simply holding a line and increase pay elsewhere. Jumping ship is best thing to do right now. Even if you were to upgrade right now, you'll go back on reserve for 5 years plus as a captain.
Leaving is not an easy choice but this place is falling behind.

Like DApilot said. With the pilot market the way it is, it's unacceptable for someone to have to sit reserve for more than 6 months, let alone for one year plus.

No crystal balls, just go where you can safely build 121 experience to move on in your career. ExpressJet (ASA) served me well and looking back I really enjoyed it.

Dad just had a 9 year XJT FO on his jumpseat. :(

You sir are the totd. Congrats. When that 9 year FO went to ExpressJet, it was the place to be. No one can predict what happens in this industry.

Probably a wash though because his numbers also assumed every regional pilot wants to move on. There are a lot of regional lifers.

I was not saying that every regional pilot is going to the majors in 4 years, just that there will be about 20,000 hired at the majors/lcc's in the next 4 years, and there are less than 20,000 regional pilots.

Other people made that leap. Not me. I know there are lifers at the regionals, and there are those that the majors will not hire.
But it does show that there will be a ton of movement. If you are ready, have a degree, have 121 PIC time, and a decent record, you will be able to move on.

Don't forget that many of the flows right now from the regionals to mainline are guys in their late 50's and early 60's (At least on the AA/WO side of things). According to their message board, Envoy just had a 64 year old flow. Many of the 30 per month that Envoy is flowing to AA will be gone in 5-7 years due to retirement. So, they will fill an opening, and need another pilot to fill that same opening in a few years.

Also, the retirement numbers assume that all pilots stay until reaching 65. Many AA, UAL, and DL pilots are retiring before 65. That may mean that 2019 and 2020 may be much bigger retirement years than they are currently expected to be.

There is talk in OCC that ORD is going to close? Anyone hear that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Don't believe everything you hear.

Sending more pilots to other airlines is a fancy way of saying "our pilots are knocking down the doors to get out of here faster than anyone". I'm sorry, but if you are choosing between several regionals, XJT is career suicide. Did you not comprehend the ATL CAs on reserve in their 16th year? 9 year upgrades? 3 year FO reserve? Listen close: You will be a Captain at most regionals before you even get off reserve at XJT! Do yourself a favor and go to the regional which will get you to one of the big 4 fastest. Don't settle for an option close to home that may not exist in 3 years. Don't believe the recruiter lies about upgrade time and majors recruiters having a special place in their hearts for XJT pilots. The truth is they are desperate to put meat in the seats and if they don't, the airline will collapse into downgrades in 6 months of less. You don't want to be at the bottom of that mountain when it comes tumbling down. When 16 year Captains become senior FOs.

I sure hope you are leaving for Commutair or Mesa. If not, I think it's time for you to go and leave this "sinking ship".... as you say.

I was jump seating on ExpressJet this week and the crew mentioned losing 200s or merging with Endeavor. Merger seems like a huge stretch but curious if anyone has an knowledge of either. We know how rumors are in this business.

How would they merge? XJT is wholly owned by SkyWest. Endeavor would have to buy XJT?

But that's exactly how the labor department reports 'new jobs' every month...

Delta would have to buy XJT. I'd bet on Delta just moving flying from XJT to 9E versus another merger, especially when one of the companies is really just getting over a messy merger of 3 into 1

I left several months ago for an LCC. Smartest move I've made, and no regrets.

Nothing wrong with that move. I wish you the best!

Thanks! :)

Pretty sure SkyWest Inc. is letting XJT bleed out.

Oh please. TOTD for simply stating a fact of life. :rolleyes: I would love for things to get better at XJT. Believe me. They were the airline I really wanted to go to until I had FOs and CAs there tell me to stay away. So stating that they have 9 year FOs makes me the bad guy? In what universe? I just state the truth and reality of the situation and I'm called a tool? Wow. Seriously you must be a recruiter because the whole point of this forum is to talk about what actually is happening at the airline, hopefully to steer people in the right direction.

I'm getting the feeling that they'd rather divest themselves from Express Jet. I don't think it worked out the way they hoped it would. Every thing new seems to go to the non union side and they are slowly shrinking both sides of Express Jet. Interesting times ahead for sure

I think it is going exactly how they had it planned. Grow the Mainline Skywest and get rid of the competition (ASA and XJT). They seem to be making money while shutting down the competition.

Your thinking very short term.... 2 months ago Folks passed up on Envoy, Piedmont, PSA but did not look at the trends. Now the 3 WO are top paying regional with a career progression opportunity w/any interview to AA should they choose to when their number is called.

At AA, the president did fight for the staff or try to pull a trigger to invest in empoyees & increase wages. That is "President" who was at AA departed AA (let go by the Board of Directors) and is now the new President at UA.

Once he left AA, Robert Isom (new President) future AA CEO, opened the purses which the WO are now benefiting from.

Don't be short sighted in this industry. Research what DL did to Comair & almost did to Pinnacle.Air Wisconsin was a top tier regional. Potentially going under. Express jet was a top regional, potentially going under.

Just recommending you not be short sighted.

Ancillary fee, and 3 passenger majors remaining & SW, JB, Alaska/Virgin (once approved by DOJ).

THE AIRLINE BUSINESS MODEL OF THE PAST HAS CHANGED. NOT ONLY IS THERE LESS COMPETITON, BUT THE MAJORS HAVE FOUND A WAY TO MAKE MORE MONEY. OPERATE A MORE FUEL EFFICIENT OPERATION, ROUTES, PROCEDURE, NEXTGEN, etc...THEY WILL NOT GO BROKE and Bankrupt AS easily THEY DID IN THE PAST. SOME MAJOR EVENT OR CATASTROPHES MUST OCCURE.

THIS IS NOT YOUR 1990's Airline. More efficient airplanes & profits.

They can handle higher fuel prices also. Capacity control is a great tool being utilized, better fair pricing, using smarter algorithms.

THIS INDUSTRY IS DIFFERENT. NOT THE EARLY 2000s Majors or industry either.

Don't be fooled. They will be making money for a long time, baring Global meltdown, catastrophe, and harmful domestic regulation.

Anyone know where a gouge for the new hire written test is? I promised an old student I'd help with his interviews.

If you were a true friend, you would help him fail the test. ExpressJet is not the place to go. They rate one step above trans-lates and mesa right now due to the low pay and QOL due to no upgrade and eternal reserve.

I agree, this place is in bad need of positive news and help.Just nothing at this time that makes it a good choice.

Are people like you and him from the same planet as the rest of us? Is there some kind of a paradox happening here? I mean, I have nothing against XJT cause I am sure it's a great place with a great pilot group but what I do have a problem with is the miseducation of a person who is just about to walk in there - and stagnate when there's a plethora of other regionals that will have you holding a line in a matter of months and getting the chance to get the $70/hour pay within 1.5-2 years. I just don't get it.

So 3 lazy opinions and zero help, thanks. He's a grown man and decide his furture for himself. You don't need to discourage others just to validate your own decision.

Make it 4 lazy opinions.

I am a FO that has been at L-XJT for 9 years. I have a good QOL and I am in the top 50 in the base for IAH. I make $44 an hour.

I am also a mentor for our new hires and one of the biggest things I hear about is the new hires wishing they had made another choice. It seems our recruiting dept makes it sound all rosy when they apply and they lie about 4 year upgrades and we have some great pay. They fail to mention that the pay is for fo's only. At other airlines, they would be on CA pay in a very short time, if not immediately. We are now approaching the 10 year mark for upgrades. There is no way around that number because it takes months to put someone thru the upgrade class and we don't have any planned. When we hit April, it will be 10 year upgrades at XJT.

Our recruiters will also tell you that more FO's and CA's get hired from XJT than any other regional airline. They fail to mention that we also had more pilots than any other regional airline until Skywest moved our flying into their operation and out of ours. Percentage wise, when you have the most, you can lose the most. I would rather see the percentage of pilots taken from our airline compared to other regional airlines. I bet that number doesn't look as good when compared to a company that only has 100 on their pilot list instead of one that has over 2000.

We have a base in IAH that most new hires seem to want. It may be a very long time before anyone gets that base. Even when they are awarded IAH or ORD, there is a very good possibility they are going to be forced back to EWR or CLE when we close down our DFW operation. (yes we are still closing bases).

We still have over 50 planes to park this year on the L-XJT side alone. Less planes mean less pilots.

I will very openly tell everyone that I work with or those thinking about coming to XJT to go somewhere else.

Sounds like you received a lot of help. You just don't want to hear it?

XJT recruiters wake up and hate their lives. Why? Because they have to wake up and tell lies to new hires and new guys who don't do any research like myself before coming here. When I came here they told me reserve in ATL was 6-8 months. Now im a year in and no end to reserve in sight, not even LCR. This place is reserve city. The young guys like myself are doing the old guys a favor by being on reserve so the old, grumpy senior guys don't have to.

Coming here for a base is not a good reason anymore. You won't make enough to survive and will regret it. Being on reserve cuts your pay dramatically. Unless you have a side business and don't mind sitting reserve for years because you're making money attending your other job, then don't come here. This place was one of the biggest mistakes I made in my life for that very reason. Not doing research and being lied to by recruiters. This website can have a lot of negative nasty people but it's also meant to let people know what is happening in the industry and in their airline. Not everyone is here to bash people.

But like you said, he is grown man and everyone makes their own choice. He can find all the gouges for interview on aviationinterviews.com

Lazy 5 opinion...

Then go already.

Gojet might be a better option right now over xjt.You can upgrade quickly and move your career forward. Seems like the fo's at XJT are forced to make a lateral move in order to move their career forward, if they aren't lucky enough to get picked up by an LLC.Being A 9 or 10 year rj fo in this environment would be a hard pill to swallow.