I'm pretty sure the opposite of what you said is the case. Mesa is one of the only contract airlines out there that HAS a training contract now. (Outside of ATP-CTP)

 

Our hands are tied my friend, unless you want to start a war with AA.

 

You are so management. First, on a legal bases, employment contracts are worth less than the paper it is printed on. Google "right-to-work". It is a non-binding honorary piece of paper. Second, they cannot ding your credit, because the contract is not legal in Arizona. Don't listen to Mr. Trim, he/she does not know what they are talking about.

 

I didn't leave right after IOE. I was a great employee at Mesa for 11.5 months. Sorry but a type rating is the cost of doing business. I agree it's selfish to leave right after training but I feel that Mesa got their investment with me.

To be fair I may just be a man and use some of my new hire bonus to pay off the 2k.

Karma right?

 

Send in a bag of 200,000 pennies, addressed to JO.

 

That's a fantastic idea.

 

I never claimed to be an expert on Arizona law, as you apparently are. And, frankly, I couldn't care less whether, or not, they can legally go after you. That's not the point. The point is that if you enter into an agreement with somebody, then unless you were lied to and the other party didn't hold up to their end of the bargain, you should honor yours. That's just the right thing to do. It doesn't matter whether, or not, the other party can use the law to force you to because they shouldn't have to do that.

I can assure you that I'm NOT pro-management. Far from it. What I am though is pro me being able to sleep at night. If everybody took the mindset that it's OK to screw somebody simply because you can get away with it then what kind of world would that be? I know that there's a lot to be desired as far as things that can be improved here. But, let's address those each at face value and on their own merits, OK? As far as training goes and the contract, they make it perfectly clear that they expect you to stay for at least one year. For their end of it, they promise to train you to ATP standards while receiving a type rating in the CRJ or 175. And they do. That is ALL that is promised with the contract. Nothing more, nothing less and, in that regard, they keep their end of the bargain. If you want to subsequently turn around and use everything else that you find you don't like about the company as justification to welch on the deal, then that's on you. While I might completely agree that all the rest sucks, I can't self-justify breaking the deal when it's only tenets have, in fact, been met. The rest is extraneous. Sorry, if we disagree but I don't roll that way. And, when I give a handshake there's absolute certainty behind it where yours, IMO, is about as useless as a soup sandwich.

 

If you really want to talk about integrity and holding up ones end of a bargain: when I was hired in 2015 it was agreeded up I would have to get my own mount, IPad and would receive $22 per hour at 75 hours per month while in training. That's it. No extra cash for food. Fast forward to 2016 and new hires are receive $1,000 additional cash per month while in training free iPads and mounts without it being negotiated (certainly no bargaining between management and the pilot group already on property).
Point is the company is expected to hold up their end of a "deal" by not giving free handouts behind the pilot groups back.

 

Let's say you get married; you're committing the rest of your life with this one person. It's a deal, a contract. Well sometimes years down the road life happens and you get this thing called a divorce, essentially breaking a contract. Are you telling me you don't trust any divorcee because he/she "didn't hold up their end of a bargain"? Same thing with Mesa. Life happens, and better opportunity exists.

 

Concerning my reading comprehension, what can I say ... I just read it exactly as you wrote it.

I'm still trying to figure out, however, why you would come to the conclusion that it's OK to screw one employer you're with just because you perceive that some other employer is screwing their employees ... as in your example of reneging on a training contract you entered into with your present employer because some other airline has a habit of hiring and then furloughing (which isn't entirely true BTW).

Is it fair to quickly bail for a greener pasture as you mentioned? Absolutely. Even if they sank a sizeable amount into your training? Absolutely. If you signed a training contract that prohibits that? Absolutely not.

As for the list of regionals with training contracts ... fair enough. I'll see what I can do because it's been a while since I was last in the job shopping market and, as wide-open as things are right now, perhaps things have changed somewhat. Bear in mind though ... just because they don't state anything about it on their websites or because it isn't mentioned on APC doesn't mean one doesn't exist. When I considered switching a while back I didn't hear a thing about it until I was in the interview and then it was an "oh, by-the-way" thing. I'll reach out to some buds in several other lines to find out if they still do actually have them in place. Give me a little time though, this isn't my only job.

BTW, ex-navy here so I guess this is only normal ...