ThatChecks

If travel benefits are important to you. the AA WO's have the best non rev benefits of all the regionals.

QRH Bingo

Please expand on that. "Best" can mean different things to different people.

One can also argue that SKW and RPA have the "best" because you have benefits on multiple carriers.

ThatChecks

AA WO's have the exact same travel benefits as mainline AA. 6 vacation passes a year, that puts them in the highest priority group, and unlimited regular passes (exact same priority status as mainline). Since AA uses check in time, not senority for their priority list order, AA WO employees can be on the top of the list even above mainline if he checks in fast enough. Parents of AA WO employees also travel at a higher priority than contracted regional employees on AA aircraft (if an Envoy's parent was nonreving, and a skywest pilot on the same aircraft the Envoy Parent would get a seat first). In additon, 12 friends can be added to an employees buddy pass roster. The ZED agreement has a ton of airlines, and if traveling on oneworld partners, you have a higher priority status than normal ZEDers. There is no fee to have flight benefits as WO. All upgraded cabins are free for WO employees.

Also, international jumpseat access on AA.

QRH Bingo

Thanks, I didn't know you got vacation passes too but I guess that makes sense.
I do like the AA check-in priority versus the other strictly seniority based.
However, to the OP (and anyone else deciding where to apply first) all these benefits diminish a bit if you do not live in or near an AA base where flying AA makes the most sense.

121noob

These lists are very helpful

AerChungus

My personal opinion:

Whichever regional gives you the soonest class date with the least committment. Second to that, whichever regional hasn't been hiring for as long as possible. Since regional (or really, all airline) hiring happens in waves, you would much rather be on the front end of that wave so you have plenty of hiring under you, which means less time on reserve and more time either aggressively time building or bidding min credit and having paid time off at home. I would take being a senior lineholder at GoJet over being a 12-month reserve at Endeavor any day of the week. Failing that, here's my personal list:

Endeavor
Envoy
Skywest
PSA
Horizon
Mesa
Piedmont
CommuteAir
Republic
GoJet
Air Wisconsin

Endeavor, Envoy, Skywest, Republic, and PSA are all about as safe as it gets for regionals. I just couldn't bring myself to rank Republic very highly because of that contract. I consider Endeavor to be the best because I think that Delta is the most financially sound legacy right now, Endeavor has a good airplane with an Embraer 175 program on the way, and their basing has something for everyone east of the Mississippi (and if you're moving in base, DTW, MSP, and ATL are all pretty affordable). Skywest loses a few points in my book because of their metering, which would slow your progression to a legacy (given that Hawaiian probably won't exist in the next year or two, Skywest will be working for EVERY legacy). Horizon has a good airframe, but they haven't hired much at all in recent years and with the upcoming Hawaiian merger, there's a lot of uncertainty as to what their role would be in the combined airline. Mesa always seems on the verge of folding but at this point, so much money has been pumped into them that it's clear that United won't let them fail, at least not until the next whipsaw. CommuteAir and Piedmont are a good amount lower down because their future is much more in question being 145 operators (and no, CommuteAir social media team, having a single Embraer 170 that hasn't flown in 6+ months doesn't count). What distinguishes GoJet and Air Wisconsin from CommuteAir and Mesa is poor management and training. GoJet, despite having a relatively decent 550, is owned by HK who is aging and his kids don't have an interest in keeping the business going. While CommuteAir and Mesa are well known for having training programs that will practically drag you across the finish line against your will, GoJet and Air Wisconsin are known to be pretty difficult with a high wash-out rate. And for Air Wisconsin, after all the heartache of getting through their training...you get the honor of flying a CRJ-200 with a broken APU.

All of that said, the primary goal of a regional for the vast majority of pilots should be this: get in and get out. I wouldn't sacrifice a single month of seniority at my career airline just to have had it better at, say, Endeavor than, say, CommuteAir. Go to the first regional that won't ruin your life (finanically/PRIA-wise, it's a given that any of them will ruin you emotionally), take your type ride, and then update your apps every month or less until you get a call from an airline that is in more control of its own destiny

VacancyBid

That's a great general principle. The original poster wants some place to stay until retirement.

VacancyBid

You could argue that. but everyone can zed on everyone else and SKW and RPA have very low priority on lots of carriers. What you want is high priority on one carrier and access to premium seats.

For that ... nothing beats AA. A new hire PSA FO is EQUAL to a 35 year 777 captain on mainline when fighting for a seat. And even if you live in IAH or ATL ... you're gonna be waaaay behind all the senior mainline folks. Nothing beats AA for a newhire regional pilot. Nothing. It's not arguable.

GimmieDaLoot

stupid question. Whichever hires you first. If you want a serious answer, Mesa is top.

Bottom of the tier trash include PSA, air wisconsin, skywest

bluespoon

Whats the difference between Midtier and Bottom tier Lol? They ask for persmission before they screw you? Honestly for the OP, at an older age, unless you really want that airline life, you might just want to skip the regionals, the schedules are pretty tough. I would wait for NJ or FJ to call.