Which regional? Do the majors really care?
 

A buddy of mine is trying to make a decision on which regional to go to; Mesa, Skywest or Compass. I've given him some advice, and many over on the Regional board have too. Mesa actually works best for him, but he's worried that the company's reputation will hurt his chances of moving on to a Major if he wanted to (due to his age he's not sure if he would look to move).

So, from a current regional puke, I was wondering, do the majors really care which bottom feeder we're flying for? Every time I ride a mainline jumpseat most of the guys don't seem to know which regional is which, and why should they? Would one regional pilot group ever be discriminated against in favor of another when it comes to hiring at the Majors?

For the most part, not as far as I can tell.

It's always possible that some guy involved in hiring will have a hard spot for a particular regional, typically because that regional "stole" flying that "belonged" to his regional back in the day. I've heard anecdotal stories, but that's all.

If anything I'd be more worried about being non-alpa, ie better to work at an alpa bottom feeder than a non-alpa non-bottom feeder.

But that would be absolutely last on my list of criteria, behind QOL, geography, and pay.

Majors will only hire you if you've flown jet with the engines mounted under the wings, unless you have also acted as PIC for the Space Shuttle or X-15 (also counts as "space time").

Interesting comment about ALPA, I'd never thought of being at a non-ALPA carrier as being detrimental in the past, however having spoken to some L-CAL guys down in IAH, they seem to be rather anti Skywest.

Its all about winglet time.

Don't fall into that trap. It's perpetuated on the commuter board for whatever reason, by old, cranky commuter lifers.

Hiring at all levels is done by HR professionals and management pilots. It's done in a panel format so as to exclude any bias that could arise in the form of what you stated.

At the commuters, your goal should be to:

a) network and keep your nose clean
b) upgrade
c) get into the training dept or become a check airman

Regardless of where you are, that is the magic formula. There might be something to obtaining TPIC via a jet not prop, but prop guys are hired across the industry as well. AFAIK, jetBlue has been the only company with a hard-on for turbojet time vs. turboprop.

The X-15 hasn't flown since 1968. Therefore, X-15 time practically disqualifies you from holding a 121 job.

You need at least 6 lunar landings to be considered at FedEx