SPM2019

Hey all! I am considering PSA. I wanted to ask for some brutal feedback regarding the company/pilot relationship, how much time new hires are sitting reserve (particularly at CLT), how are the reserve rules, and the general QOL? Would you recommend over PDT or Air Wisconsin? Is there another regional you would specifically recommend?

Thanks!

ZeroTT

Brutal ... use the search feature

TallFlyer

Where do you live, or want to live?

Jma313

Reserve for a new FO in CLT is well over a year. You most likely won’t hold CLT as a base for your first few months here as bases are determined by availability and seniority. Reserve at PSA is nothing fun and reserve times are climbing company wide. I can’t speak as to how PDT and Whiskey are compared to PSA as far as if one is “better” than the other.

chrisreedrules

Simply put... I would recommend PSA over Piedmont or Air Wisconsin.

SPM2019

Thank you all for your replies! I live in CLT and don't mind sitting reserve if I live at Domicile. I'm recently retired military pilot. More concerned about work rules at PSA. Forum comments don't paint the best picture, but not sure how many of those comments come from folks living at domicile.

AW seems to have really great work rules and I've been told I have a good chance of being based at CAE and holding a line within a few months.

CLT is obviously closer, but wanted to see what you all thought about PSA vs. AW.

PleaseComplete

Comments you read are subjective obviously. Its the whole new broom sweeps good mentality. When you first get hired you are just happy to have a job. If things don't work out and you miss your commute home the first couple times, you suck it up and its not that bad. After you are here for a year or more then that entitled attitude sets in and you get stuck in an outstation and you really want to be home and "OMG RESERVE RULES AT XXXX SUCK SO BAD".

That said... I have no other airline experience to compare to as I flew helicopters before but our Crew Scheduling seems to have taken the cake in regards to how poorly you can run something. Seems being the key word here as we are not privy to how or why they make decisions. We are going through a revamp of our reserve rules and over on our internal web site people really don't seem to be very happy about it.

We also recently had revamped our pay structure in regard to day off pay and introduced tiers for "bonus" pay if you work more than a certain amount of hours. Under the old way some people figured out how to hack the system and credit crazy amounts like 120hrs or more while only flying 70 or something while still having 15 days off. That is going away. So we are kind of in a holding pattern as to whether or not this new system is better... the math on the internal site says NO.

Lastly, I'm not the brightest bulb but all these changes seem to be coming in order to align us with a change to PBS. We currently use pre built line bidding, then are able to SAP to swap trips around. Everybody is probably overly concerned about how changing to a PBS line building bid system will work in accordance with SAP as prior history shows that it will poorly executed and will be an overall concession if history repeats itself.

All in all it beats digging ditches. Is it still better than MESA ? I don't know anymore, my buddy who is at MESA is pretty dang happy, he's making more as an FO then I do as a Reserve Captain...

Don't know anything about Whiskey, can't help you there.

ZeroTT

PSA PSA PSA PSA PSA PSA

Reserve at home isn't that bad. Damn near anything in base beats commuting.

You aren't dependent on PSA's (poor) pay rates for your sole income and you are unlikely to stay at PSA for a decade in any sort of reasonable hiring environment with mil exp.

So yeah, PSA.

Irishblackbird

Please complete summed it up pretty good. That being said we have signed many different LOAs with little or no pilot input by our former MEC, many of which minimally have benefit to the pilot group, and all of which seem to favor the company. The forced upgrade and voluntary base reassignment was real doozy and huge hit in QOL to many. But I do see this coming to an end as many pilots hired within the last 2 years are coming up on their 1000 hours. Quick upgrades will probably start to ease off as well.

In our favor, I will say the training is good if you put forth the effort, and we have no real backlogs that I am aware of. Piedmont on the the other hand seem to have guys sitting around for months to get a class date. Can't speak to Air whiskeys training times, but their pay and benefits are supposed to be good and they signed a new contract with United.

Not so good for us, our reserve times are climbing and as an FO that means minimal flying until you accrue some seniority(this can be base dependant ). Some of the guys I have flown with are having difficulty consolidating their initial 100 hours. Reserve rules flat out suck and the improvement the union was selling was BS. Many were looking for the elimination of hot reserve, more days off and the ability to move days around. None of this happened. The only thing that happened is they restructured the way assignments are handed out and is supposed to go fully automated buy June. Pay, other than the initial signing bonus, is just about the bottom of the pack. You can make more at other regionals.

This may be a little far reaching, but something to consider, AA carries a large amount of debt, and their profits are not as good as the other legacies. Couple that with an economy that is showing indications of slowing down... you get my point. A downturn in the economy can be far reaching in this industry, and I would want to be positioned with someone who will be able to weather an economic event. In my opinion, our pilot coffers are rather full for the equipment we have on property, and who knows if AA wouldn't abandon the WO model altogether it economy gets bad enough. This last bit is pure speculation on my part.

Good luck with your job search!

Thedude86

I agree with just about everything said. I’d like to add though if you read the last few pages of some of the PSA threads on here most of your questions will be answered.

As much as PSA has been driving me crazy the last year or 2, it still beats piedmont. Piedmont is probably the only airline I could not recommend even if you live in base. Senior line holders there are crediting 75 hours with only 11 and 12 days off. As someone else in another thread said... you could commute to another airline in LAX clear across the country and still have more days off at home with more pay than living in base with piedmont.