Considering Move Envoy to Mesa
 

Good morning. Just wanted to hop on here and get some information from those actually working here.

Currently a crj fo with Envoy, sitting at 700 hours sic. I live in Phoenix and am already sick of commuting to ord and am fearful of where I may end up once I upgrade. In addition I don’t like the writing on the wall over here and honestly think AA is a crappy parent to have.

Anyway I would appreciate any honest feedback you can give. I do know that Phx is more senior so I will most likely have a little bit of a wait and obviously lose my seniority, which is nice to have. How long are the upgrades taking now and are you as short on captains as Envoy?

Thanks

We are not quite at street Captains and forced upgrades like Envoy. We don’t force anyone to LGA.

The most junior Captain award in Phoenix is October 2015. The most junior First Officer award in Phoenix is January 2018. The most junior CRJ upgrade award is December 2017 and it was IAD. The most junior DFW Captain award was January 2017.

You will upgrade pretty quickly after you hit 1,000 hours if you are willing to commute. IAD was the most junior CRJ upgrade awards.

So, you can be PHX based quickly as an FO. And, an upgrade will occur quickly but not in PHX.

Are you considering Compass? Why or why not? One caveat: Our contract with American is up for negotiations and expires in 2019.

Thank you for all of that information. I am not exactly in any particular hurry to upgrade, so I would be willing to sit FO a little longer if it meant getting a PHX spot.

How is the commute to IAD just out of curiosity?

In regards to the contract with AA, do you say that as a point that there "may" be a removal of the PHX base?

Lastly, when it comes to commuting/non-rev do you get benefits on both AA and United or just the carrier you are doing the flying for?

Thanks again for all the information, good stuff and much appreciated.

Oh and in regards to compass, I did consider them but I have concerns over their future in terms of contracts. I could be wrong however. In addition, I figured since I live here it would also be nice to go through training here.

I thought the AA contract is through 2021? And some of the CRJ's that were bought by Mesa in 2015 are under a 10 year agreement (so 2025) right?

IAD shouldn’t be a problem from PHX on a short term basis. Better than LGA.

All bases are dependent on the underlying contract. My info is second hand and picked up from what others have posted here. Maybe, MAGPBS or someone else with first hand knowledge of the date for the AA PHX contract expires.

You will get both AA and UA benefits once based in PHX or DFW or SDF. While in IAD, UA benefits only.

As far as a pilot group, we are a bunch of good guys. Like all airlines, 80-90% are great. A few are not.

MAGPBS or someone with first hand knowledge of the AA contracts needs to comment. My info is based on others posts here that the AA contract is up for renegotiation next year. CPA’s do vary with when Mesa brings aircraft onboard. So, it is possible 2015 new aircraft would have a 10 year CPA.

I thought Compass just signed the PHX CPA last year with AA. I just look at their pay rate and bonus. Training is just a blimp in the overall scheme, so I would be less concerned with that. But, it would be a new aircraft if you are on the CRJ. I also think PHX is junior for Compass.

I wouldn’t let that hold any weight. You may be sent elsewhere for sim. Plus being at home for training is too much of a distraction, especially initial.

It's actually pretty bad. One flight a day each way on United - seen it get weight restricted once or twice. On reserve you generally have to commute the day before, and often times depending on your finish, commute back the day after. You can see the problem when you only have 1-2 days off... 2-legging it to/from work can be common, and ironically ORD turns out to be one of the frequent connections...

Both, but assume you're always going to be last on the list with AA. United priority is just okay.

This is all in addition to our lackluster work rules and low pay.

I would very seriously look at Compass or SkyWest.