Originally Posted by Austin Milbarge

The EQO is based on credit not flight time. So on reserve it's hard not to meet the credit requirements since you're going to get a 75 hour minimum credit for each month unless you somehow manage to drop some reserve days. I don't know how credit is affected by military reserve duty so I can't speak to that.

Originally Posted by DBono

I was making a similar decision several months ago, needing a TX base, wound up at XJT and I like everything I see here and I agree with PeakEGT's comments. You will fly as much as you want at XJT, even on reserve. Reserve will be very short (Nancy Bradshaw is a new FO at XJT with a youtube channel documenting some of here training and early experience at XJT - I think she spent 1 month on reserve at IAH in Oct/Nov timeframe).

Regarding pay, XJT has this goofy "EOQ" that is $2500 per quarter if you can average 70 hrs of flying per month. On the surface that sounds easy and it sounds like ~$10 per hour, making the XJT/Envoy pay rates similar. But...… if you are a military reservist or if the reserve situation changes at XJT, it might get a lot harder to log that 70 hrs per month. Then the whole EOQ goes away. And.....any extra flying you do, even at 150%, is based on $40.40 per hr, not ~$50 per hour. We hope this goes away whenever we get a new contract. For now, this is the deal.


Here's why I decided against Envoy. You should go on the Envoy forum and ask some of those folks for updates on these topics - this was my perception 6 months ago, but things can change constantly. You need to get the latest info from the people who are actually there. Consider these questions to be asked.....

1) there seems to be two Envoys - the 145 and the 175. Life on the 175 is great - short reserve, fly a lot. Life on the 145 not so much - LGA base, several months on reserve, flying 20-30 hrs per month while on reserve. Upgrades as you approach 1000 hrs pt 121.

2) the cadets get 1st choice of airplane in a class, the cadets make up over half the new hires and most classes are roughly 50/50 145/175. This means that if you are not a cadet, your chances of getting a 175 are nil. I know you said airplane doesn't matter, but it does matter when it determines where you will be based and how much you'll fly.

While we're on the subject, are you looking at Mesa and SkyWest for DFW/IAH bases? Mesa just got their 175 contracts extended in IAH. They operate 60 E175s for UA out of IAH. That's bigger than some regionals. Lots of people trash talk Mesa, but I have a few friends there are other than the pay, they seem happy. With chances for extra flying at 200% credit, the actual pay gap may not be so large. Again - questions to ask the Mesa folks on that forum.

Originally Posted by GoingAround94

I’ve seen her videos but she doesn’t go quite as in depth as if like at time, probably because she can’t.

I hear a lot of the same from Evony now as what you’re saying. But a lot more question marks there too.

I didn’t look at Skywest (no bonus for non-military) and a little bit of Mesa but they just didn’t stand out to me.

Originally Posted by DoSomePilotStuf

Based on what you have stated your priorities to be, fast upgrade and lots of flying with a TX base, ExpressJet is the clear winner. The only arguments you will hear for Envoy are that your priorities are wrong. Maybe you will look back and agree, maybe you won’t. But having a 4 year degree and the confidence in yourself to get a job on your own are what brought me to ExpressJet l, and I did end up making it into Aviate. I can assure you if that works out for you like it did for me you will be a happy camper.

Originally Posted by HighWingingIt

If you want a DFW/IAH I think you’re looking at the right places. Perhaps interview at both?


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Originally Posted by DoSomePilotStuf

Based on what you have stated your priorities to be, fast upgrade and lots of flying with a TX base, ExpressJet is the clear winner. The only arguments you will hear for Envoy are that your priorities are wrong. Maybe you will look back and agree, maybe you won’t. But having a 4 year degree and the confidence in yourself to get a job on your own are what brought me to ExpressJet l, and I did end up making it into Aviate. I can assure you if that works out for you like it did for me you will be a happy camper.

Originally Posted by PeakEGT

I can’t speak for Envoy other than what I know is a fact that starting pay is higher than XJT and there’s actual career progression. I’ve liked it at XJT so far. There’s a lot of flying on the 145 and I have the ability to credit 90-100 a month with little effort and commuting.
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Originally Posted by XJTFO

I made it into Aviate too.. I’ll be a happy camper when I get a CJO , until then I wouldn’t be counting your chickens. Your posts are WAY overboard , one sided. I’m happy at Expressjet as well and I chose it over Envoy. I do think I made the right choice for me but one isn’t better than the other. They both have their pros and cons. Flow is a wonderful thing if it still works 5 years down the road. . XJT is a good place regardless of the whining you hear , MOST of it is just absolutely garbage and some of its true. XJT is a bad airline for commuters but great place to be if you wan to fly (just get the 145 ). Envoy to me didn’t sound good. Forced upgrades and base moves , from what I hear they chief pilots go out of their way to be bad and I personally don’t believe in American Airlines. I think they are tanking and they won’t hire at the same rate a few years from now even with retirements.



Take everything you hear with a grain of salt. Wherever you go , work hard , stay positive and have fun. Those 3 things will help land you a job. If you stop having fun and become miserable, you won’t even realize how bad you may look to a legacy or LCC when you interview.