I haven't had a hotel at Mesa that was remotely as bad as the CHU I lived in while in Iraq or the plywood box in Afghanistan. And I was lucky to be single occupancy while TDY stateside, and for that matter lucky to not be in a community tent while TDY stateside. I don't know how you can begin to compare service in the military to life at a regional, or even be a complainer about life here. My QOL at Mesa is 10x my QOL in the military, by my pay is about 1/5 of my pay in the military. You (should have) known what you were getting into. You won't stay at good hotels at any regional. Some of ours aren't bad (double trees, marriotts, etc), most are average, and a few are horrible. Write enough complaints and we get a new one.

Get in, get your time, and leave. Complaining on the internets won't really help. Most people know Mesa's pay rate and healthcare costs when they voluntarily sign up to work here. There are no surprises.

 

Yup--explains why we got moved from the Four Points MCI to a horrible unbranded dump that couldn't maintain any franchise standards so it has to call itself "Plaza Hotel."

They keep the hotel budget at a fixed-level: one improvement like SDF immediately gets us knocked down a notch somewhere else. New hires keep filling classes though, so pay no attention--it's not going to change.

 

We're losing the Marriott DFW next month.

As the old vendor's contracts expire, and API books more and more of our hotels, standards are definitely ratcheting downwards. Every one improvement is offset in the budget by 1-2 downgrades.

Better hotels in SDF/BHM? Sorry there goes the DFW Marriott and MCI Four Points. Problems with the CLT BW and the PIT Wyndham? Now we're gonna put you in even worse places!!!

 

Did anyone bring up hotels in the conference call?

 

That's sad, I really like the DFW hotel.

 

I heard a captian and the crew called out UFW for sdf last week.

 

They gave me the Comfort Inn and Suites DFW Airport next week I assume that'll be the new hotel.

 

Complaining about working for Mesa...

If you have been there less than a decade, you should have known what it was. For a long time, you could not have the word Mesa without "Sux" on the interwebs. You made the conscious decision to go to the place synonymous with poor pay and QOL. May not have been a bad choice, if you played the seniority lottery just right. But to complain about pay or contract or hotels, that is like Spirit passengers complaining about flying on Spirit.

I'm glad to see some signs of life from you guys. But the fact is that you made your bed, and by just showing up at indoc you nudged the race to the bottom just a little further down. You showing up there allowed JO to do his thing, and made it harder for the regionals that didnt suck quite as bad to do theirs. The regionals with better contracts have been decimated because of every pilot who made the choice to chase a seniority short-cut rather than better pay or QOL (contractually- not as the result of playing the seniority arbitrage game). So, it is and will be that much harder to get any contract improvements at the regional level as long as people choose for reasons other than what is in the contract.

 

Mesa Sucks.

 

I'll post this here since there are too many Mesa threads already.

The following was posted to the Facebook group "Future Airline Pilots of America". You can head over there to read the original.

Here is the post:

Envoy has been getting a lot of new hires lately coming from other airlines. Especially from Republic from what I hear but I recently got a call from an old friend of mine jumping ship from Mesa. He's within a few months from upgrade there but now believes he will do better at envoy as he is now becoming aware of many Mesa captains who have their 1000 PIC turbine and are being turned away from interviews being told that the company won't hire Mesa pilots. This is something I tried very hard to convey here at the inception of this group. It seemed at the time to fall on deaf ears as most people I interacted with couldn't get over the shimmer of low upgrade times.

I remember years ago being at a flight school where the school and all of the students clung to the false pretense that a quick upgrade with 1000 PIC turbine was your "golden ticket" to go to any mainline airline you desired. I think for the most part that is still floating around today. This industry has stalled significantly in the last twenty-plus years because of that mentality, leaving experienced pilots stuck at regional airlines for one to two decades. There are still many who have 15,000-25,000 hours TT with thousands or tens-of-thousands of hours of PIC turbine fighting over a competitive rush to the mainline jobs. Working for a substandard airline with substandard bases, pay and contracts do not guarantee you anything except having a frustrating job for a long time. That quick upgrade won't get you out of there any sooner and only threatens your life, career and will probably be a frustrating waste of time for you in the long run.

The run to fly newer and larger airplanes for less pay IS beyond a shadow of a doubt the main fuel feeding the machine that has been diminishing this career for decades. Please consider that when you make decisions that are what is "best for your family". More so now than ever as many regionals are flying Embraer 170-190s that share the same type rating as the 190s currently operating at American and may soon be at United as well. Your pay cuts will affect future pay negotiations at mainline on the very equipment that you are now more likely to spend some time flying when you get there. Regionals have for some time been operating more than 50% of the US domestic flights. That makes this a significant influence n the future of this once great and now much less so career path that you likely want to succeed in.

As always I highly recommend to research companies by speaking with as many experienced veterans of that company as you can. This forum is an excellent place to help you do that. Choose a reputable airline with good training and a good livable contract as you are always statistically certain to work there longer than the recruiters and flight schools will try to tell you. Base locations are also a very important factor for your quality of life with that company as commuting is one of the most frustrating factors of the airline pilot lifestyle. However, keep in mind that base locations shouldn't completely drive your career path as all airlines are known to close and open bases on occasion. It is a factor but don't make it your only factor.

I truly hope some of you find this helpful. I wish clear skies and big paychecks for all of us!

Thank you for your time,