Originally Posted by chrisreedrules

There is a lot of misinformation and half truths on this thread. As with many threads here on APC so take all of this for whatever you think it’s worth. I would encourage you to reach out to actual pilots flying at the prospective companies you’re interested in to get a good idea of exactly what life on reserve and on the line is like and what you can expect.

Wanting PHL, you have basically 3 options:
*Republic
*PSA
*Piedmont

Republic: Great contract and pay for a regional airline. A friend of mine is a recruiter for them and told me recently that because of their current wait for training, it will likely be spring - summer 2020 before anyone interested right now even touches the 175 out flying the line. That is a very long time to wait to start building experience and time.

PSA: PHL is somewhat junior on the FO side. You won’t have any issue getting it relatively quick. You will be on reserve for quite a while at PSA. Reserve here (and at any of the AA wholly-owneds) is not great. That being said PSA just passed some improvements to our reserve rules which will improve things. Once you’re a line-holder at PSA you can take advantage of our SAP (Schedule Adjustment Period). It allows you to drop down to a minimum of 65 hours of flying if you want to maximize your days off, pick up flying to maximize your credit, or swap and drop trips to get the days off you want/need. It offers unparalleled schedule flexibility. The processing times for requests tend to be slow now that we have over tripled in size since it was first rolled out, but I have personally never had any issues getting all the days I need off. The pay override is a gain for most of the pilots here (though there are some who would disagree with this). You will be forced to upgrade to Captain as soon as you have 1,000
SIC and you can be displaced out of base. This may change by the time you’re eligible etc but as of right now that’s where things sit.

Piedmont: I don’t know as much about Piedmont. Mostly what I’ve heard from talking to friends there or running into their pilots. I do know that they don’t have any real schedule flexibility and you can expect to only be off 11-12 days /month 75-85 hours. Not great. Piedmont was the wholly-owned with the quickest flow but I don’t know if that holds true now. It seems that time to flow ebbs and flows at the 3 AA regionals depending on when you were hired. Some people will flow in 5 years. Other are projected to be around 7-8 years.

I can really only speak about PSA from first-hand experience. I’ve been here a few years and overall it’s been okay (it’s a regional). I’ve worked at worse places and I’ve worked at better places. We are still growing and it is my understanding that PHL is going to continue to grow at a more rapid pace than our other bases. We begin swapping out CRJ200s for new CRJ900s this year.

That being said PSA is not in fact giving concessions as the poster above said. Of the 3 AA wholly-owned regionals we seem to enjoy the benefits of the best working relationship between ALPA and management. Our contract isn’t up until 2023 so until then I would expect small gains here and there. Classes are full and attrition is manageable at all 3 AA wholly-owneds though so management doesn’t see any real need to make significant enhancements to pay or the current flow agreements. Looking at the hiring data, if AA is your #1 career destination your best shot to get there is working for one of their wholly-owned regionals. And it PHL is your goal that really leaves you 2 options. If you have any specific questions about PSA (or any other regional) feel free to PM me and I will do my best to help.

Originally Posted by TheWeatherman

People who say "it's a Regional, it is supposed to suck" are idiots. I am at Republic and it does not suck at all. I can credit over 100 hours and still have 15 days off in a month. I get block or better, pay protection, no junior manning, 4 sets of uniforms every year, etc.

Do not enable these bottom feeder Regioanls (by bottom feeder, I mean their pay and work rules not the pilots themselves who are usually great when I have been on their aircraft) by continueing to apply to places where they have horrible work rules and pay. The only way it is going to change is if pilots stop applying there.

Now I realize some pilots have no choice or would go to an unfavorable Regional to avoid commuting, which is perfectly acceptable. But what gets me are people who do little research and pick the path which is easiest. i.e. which ever recruiter got to them first in flight training.

My point is that working for a Regional does not have to suck and ruin your life/make you hate flying. Put a lot of research in and try to go to a Regional that has the best pay/QOL where you don't have to commute, or has the best commute.

Originally Posted by Approach1260

Hahaha we traded first officer seniority for a little bump in flow

The forced upgrades were coming whether they were junior-manned or senior-manned. No matter what someone wasn’t going to be happy. So negotiating an increase to the flow from 7 to 10 /month when FOs were going to be forced either way isn’t the worst outcome. ,

gave up 1.25 pay for picking up trips
Again, a half truth. We didn’t give anything up. We exchanged the old system of 1.25% pay for anything picked up in open time after the final award for premium pay that benefits a larger portion of the pilot group and will mean more money in the pockets of most of the PSA pilots. This was a clear win for us and will greatly simplify the pay claims process.

, have new reserve rules that are so convoluted scheduling gets away with just about whatever they want since there's no oversight
These are being manually implemented beginning this month and will further improve throughout the year. And also, another clear gain for the pilots at PSA that will help to ensure there is less abuse by crew scheduling.

, you'll be senior Manned to Captain as soon as you're at 1,000 turbine forfeiting what's left of any fo bonuses, oh and when you're senior Manned they can send you to any base they want (hope you like Norfolk).
Yes we are senior-manning FOs. But this is really a moot point by now because whether we were senior-manning or junior-manning the upgrade would have happened for a new hire as soon as they hit their 1,000 regardless. We also aren’t the only airline forcing upgrades.

Oh and the Union keeps signing agreements without letting the pilots see them in writing, and certainly doesn't let us vote on anything.
There is a process to negotiating that often does not lend itself to 100% transparency. I guarantee you that the company doesn’t ask the crew schedulers how changes will affect their job and quality of life. That being said there was almost zero communications from our old MEC chairman. We have brand new leadership that is still for lack of a better term, “cleaning up the mess” that was left to them. Give them time. Have some faith. We are in capable hands that are making communicating with the pilots they represent a top priority.

The only guys who haven't taken concessions at PSA are the senior captains, who benefit most from the small bump in flow. They got that at the expense of the junior pilots.
You do of course realize that a “small bump” in flow benefits literally everyone right? Not just senior CAs. And let’s look at some quick napkin math on flow numbers and who they benefit... Take a CA who is in the top 25% of the seniority list (less than 500 overall). That CA already doesn’t experience nearly as much attrition outside the flow as they make their way up the seniority list. So we’ll say they move up roughly 140 numbers /year (flowing 10 /month plus an additional 20 above them leaving outside the flow each year). At 10 /month that puts them at roughly 2.5 years to flow. If the flow increases that means that even fewer above that CA in seniority bother to try and leave outside the flow. So going from 7 to 10 /month might decrease time to flow for a Senior CA by about 3-6 months on average. Not that much. But for a new hire it decreases their time to flow by anywhere from 1-2 years.

Wait for a class at Republic, and don't pay attention to the flow. If you can't find a major that will hire you before you hit the 8-10 year flow at PSA then you've got bigger issues.
I’m not saying don’t go to Republic. I think they’re a great airline with better pay and a better contract. But the wait to get not just to training but through it (factor in longer waits for 175 sim time) is pretty daunting. Things change so fast in this industry that waiting a year on anything and delaying career progression that long seems like a bad choice long-term. Just a single class date can be the difference between weekends off and missing every single one of your kids ball games. Having a line and sitting reserve. Furlough and job security. A year is a long time to put your career on hold. And it’s even simpler than that: if PHL with AA is their goal, that leaves them 2 options in my mind... PSA or PDT. And of the 2 one is the clear choice (in my opinion).

Originally Posted by TheWeatherman

People who say "it's a Regional, it is supposed to suck" are idiots. I am at Republic and it does not suck at all. I can credit over 100 hours and still have 15 days off in a month. I get block or better, pay protection, no junior manning, 4 sets of uniforms every year, etc.

Do not enable these bottom feeder Regioanls (by bottom feeder, I mean their pay and work rules not the pilots themselves who are usually great when I have been on their aircraft) by continueing to apply to places where they have horrible work rules and pay. The only way it is going to change is if pilots stop applying there.

Now I realize some pilots have no choice or would go to an unfavorable Regional to avoid commuting, which is perfectly acceptable. But what gets me are people who do little research and pick the path which is easiest. i.e. which ever recruiter got to them first in flight training.

My point is that working for a Regional does not have to suck and ruin your life/make you hate flying. Put a lot of research in and try to go to a Regional that has the best pay/QOL where you don't have to commute, or has the best commute.

Originally Posted by TheWeatherman

People who say "it's a Regional, it is supposed to suck" are idiots. I am at Republic and it does not suck at all. I can credit over 100 hours and still have 15 days off in a month. I get block or better, pay protection, no junior manning, 4 sets of uniforms every year, etc.

Do not enable these bottom feeder Regioanls (by bottom feeder, I mean their pay and work rules not the pilots themselves who are usually great when I have been on their aircraft) by continueing to apply to places where they have horrible work rules and pay. The only way it is going to change is if pilots stop applying there.

Now I realize some pilots have no choice or would go to an unfavorable Regional to avoid commuting, which is perfectly acceptable. But what gets me are people who do little research and pick the path which is easiest. i.e. which ever recruiter got to them first in flight training.

My point is that working for a Regional does not have to suck and ruin your life/make you hate flying. Put a lot of research in and try to go to a Regional that has the best pay/QOL where you don't have to commute, or has the best commute.

Originally Posted by itsmytime

While I agree with most of what you say, I don’t think all of it is people not doing their homework. Some of it certainly is, but the long wait times at the top regionals are certainly a factor also.

Any SE piston time over 1500 hours doesn’t do anything special for your resume. I think the idea of staying in your current gig for another 6-12 months waiting on a class date is a non starter for most people. A better idea is going to one of the lesser regionals, and getting some 121 experience.

If after 6 months to a year, you are misera, then put in at one of the top regionals. After proving you can pass a 121 training program, and a few hundred hours on the line, your app will go right to the top of the stack when they begin classes again.

Originally Posted by IVVIB

Piedmont shouldn't even be an option these days.

I drive to work at PDT. 4 on 2 off, at 75 hours credit is life.
Just a few years ago the flow time was realistically attractive, and premium pay made up for the schedules. Those things won't be here for you now.

Republic sounds like the best bet in PHL today. Unless having a 9.5 year flow date "in your back pocket" is something you really think you'll need.