A lot of those long time captains are the ones making it miserable. If it weren't for the disgruntled jerks, my job would be significantly more enjoyable.

 

Yes. He told me the company is great. I read all his facebook post how it really sucks. I think I will keep my corp job... I got a call from a VP at another Regional. He told me they are running out of guys and need guys with experience like mine. All he has left are flight instructors and they are not getting it. I pretty much told him to "Show me the Money"

 

Which is he can't and never will.

 

Apologies to Envoy pilots.
I was getting too excited about not having to commute, assuming I end up at Mesa and DFW happens.
There are really not many no commute options for DFW based pilots.

 

When I was at ACA I commuted from Port Huron MI to Dulles(80 mile drive to DTW then a Jetstream 41). Two weeks after IOE I held a line as FO. Upon upgrading to CA I moved to Dulles (apartment 8 miles away) to endure reserve. Two weeks later I was involuntary transferred to O'Hare. Not TDY, with a hotel and per diem- nope. Drive 8 miles to beg a UAL pilot for a ride from IAD to ORD then sit for 6 days on my own dime to do a CLT round on day 4. No base is ever locked up in the airline biz. Any hiccup and you could find yourself in a base you don't want. It's worse if it's a company you don't want as well. I'm in DFW.

Training in my home city was a big deal for me(ground school and sims). I had a lot of things come up I needed to take care of. Life does not stop because of a job, however intensive the training (except maybe SEAL training!)

It was also nice sleeping in my own bed with my own wife every night (okay that came out wrong). I'm too old for a roomie and didn't have to eat hotel food for two months straight. Was assigned JFK, but bid ORD and got it out of training.

 

I am a bit sensitive--because after working for a now-bankrupt airline who treated me 1000x worse than Mesa, and after talking with multiple other people from Eagle/XJet/etc. who are now at Mesa for the quick upgrade, the broad consensus is that Mesa--at this moment in time--treats people far better than our previous "legacy owned" employers--regardless of contract provisions. I'm sure this will change eventually like everything else in life/aviation, but right now it's way better than Pinnacle/Republic/Eagle/XJet IF you have the financial capability to take the hit on FO pay until you upgrade.

I used to buy into the militant, unionist/"this is our flying"/"burn the house down" type rhetoric FaceBiter is throwing around in here. I've learned from experience that--at a regional level--it will simply bankrupt your company and starve your family.

Sorry if FaceBiter and others seem to have a chip on their shoulder about Mesa being a place to get a quick upgrade and get the heck out of this circus--if it makes you feel any better, most of the people coming on property right now are not SJS millenials or d-bags--they're very experienced people who know exactly what they're doing, and exactly what risks they're taking--people rolling the dice for a quick upgrade on non-50-seaters so they can have some short-term job stability, get some PIC time, and get the heck out of this racket.

At the end of the day:

1) We haven't voted in concessions to get any of the flying we're getting
2) We haven't flown struck work and won't
3) We have no TA to even vote on
4) We have essentially zero say in what AA or United does with us
5) In the very-near future almost 50% of the people on property will be new hires, most of whom are prior 121 people who had zero say in the current contract--the other 50% are people who have ridden out some of the worst bankruptcy moves in regional history, switching domiciles 4-6 times and going through downgrades with 5+ years of seniority.

In short, I'm sorry if folks at other airlines like FaceBiter are getting the short end of the stick for the first time in their careers right now--it's not fun, but everyone in aviation eventually has to go through it--rest assured almost everyone at Mesa (including the new hires) has endured their fair share of hardship in the last 5-10 years.

 

Meh. In the broader scheme of things an 8 year Captain at Mesa is holding a decent line (outside of PHX), making 60-80K+/year and getting 11-15 days off per month to babysit a highly-automated jet and a mostly-experienced FO in easy-to-fly North American airspace.

There are much more miserable places to be, and much more miserable places to work. I imagine your friend's miserable-ness has more to do with his past experiences at Mesa through bankruptcy and its aftermath, and/or a tough commute, etc.. If you come into this job with previous airline experience and the cynicism that goes with that, I think you'd find it's not bad compared to a lot of flying gigs at this moment in time.

To each his/her own--there are plenty of people lining up to roll the dice for the quick upgrade, and obviously your personal situation/instincts led you to say no. It's always a tough decision saying yes or no in this industry!

 

Sorry if I'm being a bit of a Mesa apologist on here ya'll--I'll never be a "company man", but I went through some pretty horrible times at my last employer, and just having chief pilots who are decent human beings, having some very limited control/transparency with my sched via flica, and being able to upgrade before I'm old and tired--all of those things make this place worth it to me personally.

Some of you probably have different situations/experiences in this industry, and some of you obviously perceive Mesa as an unacceptable place to work, but for me personally, it's a decent place that has treated me like a human being.

 

Nice, I got four shout outs in one post.

Can we keep it professional and leave me out of trying to justify your employment at Mesa?

Thanks,

facebiter

 

Sorry but chasing that quick upgrade at the latest regional with the worst contract is every management guy's wet dream. Until that stops nobody will get anything they deserve.