Airline Pilot Central Forums - Choosing a regional

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- - Choosing a regional - QOL above all (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/regional/119074-choosing-regional-qol-above-all.html)

SAP is not a good reason to pick PSA IMHO.

Back in the day guys figured out how to work the system to have up to 15 days off while crediting 100+ (I've even heard stories of people crediting 150ish). That is a near impossibility these days(for 98% of the pilot group SAPing)

SAP is useful if you know a month in advance what days off you want and you want to babysit a computer for 24 hrs trying to make trades (not a necessity but... YMMV) as it takes hours upon hours for trades to process (it used to only take a while during the first couple of hours of trading)

I would think driving to CAE would be well worth the look. However there are several Republic bases that are one leg commutes from SAV. EWR, LGA, MIA, ORD, PHL, and MIA are all one leg commutes. Some are even on RPA metal.

I’d suggest Endeavor because the commuting policy is pretty great.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by scubadiver (Post 2737610)

I’d suggest Endeavor because the commuting policy is pretty great.

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This and the fact that Endeavor operates near all the New York to SAV flights for Delta with many overnights there on the 900. Extra flight attendant jumpseat. Alas, we aren’t hiring.

Why is QOL at envoy bad? Commuting to reserve? Isn't the lengthy reserve only for the 145 & CRJ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by harad (Post 2737282)

I'm a former army helicopter guy doing a transition to fixed wing and considering my regional options (I'll have 700 hrs rotor + 250 airplane). We're in the SAV area (about 4 hours from ATL and CLT) and although my spouse's profession provides a very comfortable income, it also means that moving (e.g. to live in-base) is just not an option. We also have two young kids, which means that quality of life & scheduling is far and away my most important priority, followed somewhere by benefits, path to the majors, and take-home pay last. I realize that many advocate for choosing whatever seems like the quickest path to the majors (which makes sense), but I would trade that for having a better QOL and scheduling flexibility during our kids' formative years. Right now I'm looking at Piedmont for the low/no reserve time & likelihood of being able to hold CLT pretty quickly (looks like an easy commute although I have no idea what the loads are) or PSA for possibility of the SAP. I've also interviewed with Envoy, but it seems like it would be tough to make those bases commutable, and about half of the Republic bases would be at least a 2-leg commute from SAV. So for the highest QOL, most days off or commutable lines, what makes sense?

-Piedmont
-PSA
-Republic
-Envoy

Something else?

As a Round 1 line holder when I was an FO at PSA I was easily able to get 16-18 days a month off. When I wanted to make extra money I would only have 14-15 days off. SAP is awesome and the reason why I came to PSA. I got tired of never having control of my schedule

If QOL is what your after then Republic is the answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrFriendly7 (Post 2739187)

If QOL is what your after then Republic is the answer.

I second this as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jma313 (Post 2739009)

If you need specific days off then PSA’s SAP is a great tool. The difference though, at other places you can still get 16-18 days off a month and credit 10-20 more hours a month while doing so.

I don’t give a lot of positive feedback when it comes to PSA, but I would have to say the Piedmont guys and gals have it much worse than we do. I would advise you to read their threads if you’re thinking about going there. I’ve read even their most senior pilots are only getting 11 and 12 days off a month while only crediting around 75 hours.

I agree living in base is huge, but as I said earlier you can go to lots of other places and get 16-18 days off with more credit and higher pay rates on top of that. I don’t think I’d be ok with driving to work if it meant I had to be gone from home an extra week each and every month.

If you live in SAV you should consider Skywest. Atlanta base can be had just after IOE for the most part. They have a great program for guys like you with Rotor time. endeavour takes a long time to get to out of training. You don't want to two leg commute. I have heard going out of JAX is very very tough. Over 400 Delta pilots live in Atlanta. We have Delta guys that live in JAX drive to Gainesville to get to work. Best of luck