No offense taken, you have your opinion of me, and that's just fine.

But thank you for reinforcing my point. You see, there exist a few people who tell people that Mesa (or other contract airlines in other threads, it's not limited to Mesa pilots nor to ex-haters of any particular company) is a place to stay away from. But how can they lay out a blanket statement like that, and expect to be taken with any amount of worth? Unless a poster lays out many details of his/her life, no one is likely to be able to accurately answer the question "Is Mesa right for me?" And even if it's right today, it may not be right for someone next year.

I am in no way bashing Mesa, hope it didn't come across that way. My point was that if Mesa was as terrible as some try to make it sound (usually because they are bitter about something that happened to them in the past), then why would so many pilots becoming to Mesa from other companies? I see the question asked almost weekly on this thread, and people like to imply that it's newbies who don't know any better or do their due diligence. But is it, really?

I think not.

Mesa can be a blessing for one person, and a mistake for another, all in the same day, the same as any other contract airline. A LOT of what it ends up being is in the attitude of the employee.

 

It sounds like we more or less agree, but making a blanket statement like "pilots that make a lateral move to Mesa are stupid" isn't fair. A move from
a decent company to Mesa today would probably be stupid unless there were some crazy personal circumstances involved. Before all the pay raises and new incentives at other airlines a lateral move to Mesa with 1000 hours SIC wasn't bad. Especially for those coming from stagnant airlines.

If I were fresh out of flight school today I wouldn't be headed to Mesa, that's for sure.

 

Hey guys. Not stirring the pot here, but can someone throw some facts on here regarding medical insurance at mesa? What is the employee contribution in dollars and percentage of overall premium? Are there multiple plans to choose from? Are some pilots on obamacare because it is cheaper like the rumors are saying? I am not sure that is an option if your employer offers healthcare, but I don't know. Thanks fellas.

 

There are 5 options and they all suck. I was slightly better off with a bluecross plan for my kids and me last year (went up this year whiles Mesa's remained flat) and just kept it again this year since I'm changing employers. Our healthcare premiums are the highest in the industry, by a good margin. Hopefully your spouse has something better to choose from, or plan on marketplace costs, as Mesa's aren't much different than other ACA options.

 

My highlighting what BN said, plus what I added, was trying to make the point that the pilots moving over are not all news, and I seriously doubt they are dumb. They have probably analyzed their current situation, and felt that Mesa had more to offer them.

I agree, Mesa would not be the best bet for a kid fresh out of flight school. But someone with 800-900 TSIC 121 time already? Military? Sure, why not? As you said, each situation is different. And for reasons that some seem to not understand, Mesa keeps putting new hires into class. And they will keep doing it, IMO. I just wish for everyone's sake that Mesa would step up their game and pay you guys what you are truly worth.

 

Obamacare is less than half the cost of Mesa's best plan for my entire family, and Mesa's best still has a high deductible. My plan has zero deductible. Think Mesa only pays 10%?

 

The loophole in the ACA is that employees only have to provide the "minimum value standard" to the employee only. Many employers across the country, just like Mesa (but to a much higher degree) are providing the required plan to the employee but are subsidizing their cost for the employee plan by basically charging whatever they want for family members. I think, as many others do too, that Mesa is subsidizing their cost for the employee plans with higher than actual cost for family members.

The minimum value standard requires that the employee receive a plan that meets the required coverage at a certain cost. What my family does, is I get my plan from Mesa (which meets these standards), my wife gets hers from her company (which does basically the same thing as Mesa but the premiums are much lower, and we get our child's insurance on the healthcare exchange.

From a employee benefit standpoint, the plans offered by Mesa for family are out of this world. But there are options to reduce your cost and to get good coverage overall, you just have to work at it, sadly.

There has been so much misinformation spread about the ACA in the past years that people dont understand what it actually offers. That is a discussion for another time or place, but, become educated about what your options really are to mitigate your cost exposure, regardless where you work.

(These statements aren't directed at iFlyRC, but just using the quote to make my points for the forum at large. )

Edit: A word

 

Thanks guys. So a follow up question would be how is mesa getting so many warm bodies in class when the healthcare is so high? Are most pilots young and single? On the spouse's insurance as was suggested before? On the exchanges? To my knowledge, mesa is the only contract carrier with such high premiums.

 

Most likely, those who choose Mesa don't put insurance as a major qualifying factor.

 

Captain pay would in essence offset these additional Healthcare cost. So I assume people, even myself, come here primarily for the upgrade and then hope to get Captain pay asap. Problem is, the quick upgrade is in serious question these days.