Hawaiian might open a window in this summer and hire 12 over the course of the year. United has selected their interviewees through SLI (projected in August). After SLI, who knows when they'll pick guys off the street again...maybe next year. FedEx isn't going to hire anyone this year. Delta might at the end of the year...maybe next year...maybe 2015 (some say.) Alaska? Good luck with that unless you grew up in an igloo. I'm thinking guys are trying to go to JetBlue because they've got mouths to feed and bills to pay.

 

Good question. From what I gathered at the Women in Aviation conference, talking with friends at those airlines, studying up on them and checking out this forum, I've come up with this (just my opinions):

FedEx:
Pros: possibly the pinnacle of aviation, great aircraft, great pay, steady business model, numerous internal recs and sponsors
Cons: poor domiciles requiring commuting, extreme high-quality and number of applicants, not hiring, lots of night flying, long upgrade time

United:
Pros: again, a pinnacle of aviation, great pay and benefits, great aircraft, great list of domiciles, lots of upcoming retirements
Cons: no internal recs, lots of high-quality applicants, not in the first, or maybe second, third or fourth round of possible interviewees

Alaska:
Pros: great domiciles, I can go home, great pay, already 737 typed, varied flying, sense of community
Cons: thousands of applicants for about 80 spots, no internal recs

Delta:
Pros: again top of aviation food chain, lots of internal recs, great pay, great aircraft, great domiciles
Cons: not hiring off the street until possibly 2015

JetBlue:
Pros: great aircraft, great domiciles, Latin America flying, young company, great corporate culture, couple of internal recs, THEY'RE HIRING!!
Cons: lower pay, possibility of being left out to dry with a merger

Overall, there's pros and cons to each airline, I could be more detailed about each, but forum posting aside, everyone I've talked to at JetBlue loves it, loves the flying, loves the work atmosphere, loves the people they work with. Sure, there's things that could be better, I've been told that as well, but for me, JetBlue would be a career airline.

Plus, I was very impressed by the pilot recruiters at the JetBlue booth. Didn't even get a chance to talk to United, Alaska had so little time, and I already knew nearly everyone at the FedEx booth.

 

JetBlue is a significant step up for most pilots looking for a job right now. There are very few RJ pilots for which JB would not be significantly better monetarily over the course of a career. Plus, as said before, they are hiring, and most of the other airlines are not, at least not in a meaningful way.

 

Not only the RJ guys but even 135 King Air guys like me.

 

Hi. I just read this entire thread but didn't see any description of what occurs during the initial interview. Could some of you guys who did the Phase I interview describe the event?
Also, how were you notified? Email? phone? Both? Where was the interview held? JFK? I'm currently overseas and would have to figure out a way to make myself available for an interview should the call come.
Thanks for any info provided...

 

The Airline Interviews website has some real good information regarding the JetBlue interview process and this thread here has some real good stuff to go over:

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/ma...lue-gouge.html

Good luck!

 

Along hiring lines, I have a question for some of you salty dogs pertaining to logbooks.

I have several years of navy logbooks for which I have Excel spreadsheets and paper logbooks. Since I began my 121 career 9 months ago, I have been keeping my data in a small pocket log and transcribing it periodically. As I am looking for a new and better flying job, what is the consensus on how to present all this data to a new prospective employer? Should I just come in with a summary of flight times or an entire bound printout along with my old navy logbooks?

 

I'm not an old salty dog, but I'll tell you how I plan to keep the logbook.
I have my Air Force logbook, completley original and everything signed. The only thing I've done to it is tab the checkrides I've taken, but I also have my Flight Evaluation Folder, so other than a quick logbook entry, I have the actual checkride form for someone to look at.
Once I start civilian flying, I plan to use LogTen Pro Pilot Logbook, mainly because it looks the easiest to use and I can synch it easily across my Apple products. Then, I can just print out copies and have them bound at the UPS store or Kinko's.
Neatness and completeness seem to be thhe key though. Look at the logbook as an extension of yourself. OR, in military terms, it's not you that graduates, it's your grade book (logbook).

Good luck! I'm sure there's better advice out there from some of the more experienced guys.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the input Lob.

 

No worries, happy to help.