Originally Posted by deltajuliet

Okay, Mesa schedules in a nutshell. Your 4-day is worth 17 hours while one at Skywest might average above 20 (sometimes well above). That means less hours of pay (at a lower pay rate) and less days off (since your total trips for the month need to equal at least 76 hours).

It's common to do 4-leg days with long sits between flights where you're essentially a reserve pilot for free. It's been speculated they do that intentionally, and often as close to your max duty day as they can.

For example, you have a 7 am showtime in Tucson, fly 45 minutes to Phoenix, sit three hours, fly to El Paso and back, sit another three hours, then go to Albuquerque. Hope your last leg isn't delayed. After all that you've made just over four hours of pay after working 12 1/2 hours. We have no trip rigs, duty rigs, or min day.

That's not every day but it's lots of days, especially with Skywest taking over more and more of the Phoenix routes.

Your month might be five 4-day trips averaging 17.5 hours giving you the minimum 11 days off and 87 hours of lower pay.

At SkyWest, you might get four 4-days at 22 hours each for 88 hours of higher pay and 15 days off. You've made more money and have four whole extra days off.

These are examples, but you get the idea. And as I mentioned before, our new contact doesn't include any sort of minimum pay per day (min day), no minimum pay per duty period (duty rig), and no minimum pay per trip (trip rig).

Don't come here just to hold Phoenix a few months faster.

Originally Posted by BobSacamano

Thanks, that's really helpful info.

Originally Posted by BobSacamano

Yeah, that would be the concern. As long as Mesa's schedules are decent I would prefer it over SKW solely because it seems like a quicker router to holding a PHX base.

Originally Posted by PilotBrandon07

FWIW the most junior FO for OO in PHX is a 1/2/2017 hire. Not sure how many people are in line for it right now but I heard a bunch got PHX for October. OO posts all the most junior DOHs on their website for each base.

Originally Posted by Aurora8

Hmmm...my sim instructor at OO - who is number 1 on seniority at PHX - told my sim partner in July he might get PHX FO "in a couple of years.' An opening came up last month for a CRJ FO at PHX (one) and I counted about 200 people ahead of me that had it on their bid sheet. Not saying you can't get it, but be reasonable and figure a year wait, and if you want a command, figure a long wait. SkyWest advertises all these domicile choices but it's kind of BS IMO, depending on how you're going to approach a career at SKW - if you're at SKW for the duration, go for it, if you're confident you're going to a major, go to the regional with the best pay (not OO anymore) and a domicile that you want - not one you may get if you're lucky.

Originally Posted by Paid2fly

How is KA anyway?

Originally Posted by Unkown Rider

Can a new hire hold Houston?
I live near Houston and not having to commute is a big plus for me. From the recruiting info it seems that a new hire can hold IAH and maybe upgrade in 2 years. That sounds a bit optimistic to me.

Right now it is between XJT and Mesa for me at this point in my career. I appreciate any advice or things to consider.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Unkown Rider

Can a new hire hold Houston?
I live near Houston and not having to commute is a big plus for me. From the recruiting info it seems that a new hire can hold IAH and maybe upgrade in 2 years. That sounds a bit optimistic to me.

Right now it is between XJT and Mesa for me at this point in my career. I appreciate any advice or things to consider.

Thanks

Originally Posted by airflight999

Here is a sample schedule of a random junior pilot in DFW for May.

4 ON
2 OFF
3 ON
2 OFF
4 ON
5 OFF
4 ON
4 OFF
4 ON

Here's another:
2 OFF
8 ON
2 OFF
4 ON
2 OFF
4 ON
3 OFF
4 ON
2 OFF

And one more
2 OFF
4 ON
2 OFF
4 ON
2 OFF
4 ON
2 OFF
4 ON
2 OFF
4 ON