Ask SAAB and he will tell you things are a little scary with Newark and XJET.

Upgrade will not take as long as everyone thinks. Most of the Cpts for the Q are senior Saab Cpts and most are looking to fly it for a year to get the experience and then move on. Another group of Cpts are older guys who want to fly the Q for a year or two and retire. There are few Cpts on the Q who plan on flying it for years to come. And remember, that there may be more Q's coming in IAH and United will want some as well.

I would take the Q if I was coming in for training. Even a two year upgrade is shorter than any other airline 70+ seat plane.

Whatever you do, good luck.

 

One other thing that may be a con. New aircraft in the fleet often have teething problems. MX isn't familiar with them just yet and you may be cancelling more flights than you'd like to.

Does Colgan have a seatlock? If not you could always bid back to the Saab down the road if you could stick it out commuting for a while.

If it were me, I'd go for quality of life first. The pay's all the same (it sucks) do what puts the least amount of stress on you and your family.

 

How so? I'm leaning pretty heavily toward just going with the Q400 with Colgan, but I also have an interview scheduled for October 15 with XJET. (I'm planning on cancelling all my other interviews, as being based at EWR is a VERY STRONG positive for me, and Colgan and XJET are the only ones who offer that as a possibility as far as I know.) I'm scheduled for the 11/7 class with Colgan. I can't imagine getting a much-earlier class from XJET if I'm not even interviewing until mid-October. I figure not having to sit reserve, having seniority on the Q, and pretty much knowing I will have EWR out of training are all pretty strong positives. What am I missing? I'm also pretty eager to be able to get on to the majors, being a 40-year-old - would XJET provide me with a fast-enough upgrade path to make it faster than Colgan to the majors? Also, does it make much difference to the majors if you flew an ERJ or a Q400? I'm curious for everyone's feedback.

 

There is nothing like driving to work. In my mind, there is no reason to take the Q, go with the S340. In 6 months you'll be getting done with a crapy 4 day trip, and have only 2 days off, then be back. If you can live in base and do locals, you have it made! 4 day trips suck! There a wast of time! Live in Base!

 

Thanks guys, CubCaptain...I will call you in the next day or so.

Sounds like a tough choice..It seems like it is pretty much split 50/50. The only thing that I really dont like about the saab is just that I wouldnt be able to attend until three classes from now in late Nov would would hurt my seniority but other than that it is all the same.

Pip, could you explain seatlock? Flyguyniner mentioned that I could potentially hit upgrade mins and seniority could come up where I could just jump from the Q to the saab as a CA, is that what you mean? Either way I am looking at a one year commitment so it can never be that bad, Ive done worse things for a year.

Thanks again guys..I have a week to decide so its not the biggest hurry.

 

I was under the impression the Q was going to be Out-Station basing like the SAAB? Also If EWR is going to be a base for you guys, Im not bashing here but be cautious, do you guys have a Commuter clause? Newark is tough to get in and out of, If you are going to commute on the Q I am sure youll have no problem becuase its your company and the amount of seats, but if its an Expressjet a/c or CAL your going to be the last on the list. This is one of those situations where a good contract makes your life a lot better. We have a 11 hr domicile rest that says if we get done later than planned and its within 12 hrs they pay protect you and take you off the trip, I remember a lot of instances where I got done late at Colgan and I would get reduced rest.

PS In the future EWR is going to shrink for XJT, however I think with CLE getting some more flying back it will work itself out, there are a lot of senior CLE folks that are based in EWR, and to be honest if people were able to go where they truly wanted EWR would probably always be the most junior. I think it will be interesting to see how the Q ops works out the first few months, I am sure it will have its problems,, new airplane, new airport, its expected, but if QOL is important to you and the pay is the same, I would void the Q...........


Also as far as the eqiptment is concerned a Q is nice, but its still not a "jet" I am not saying one is harder to fly than the other or any less sophishticated but its in the same "category" as the SAAB, and honestly airlines dont care what you fly, they care who walks your stuff in.............

 

I don't know if you would be able to turn down the Q to fly the Saab. I helped a buddy get hired a while back (year ago or so) at Colgan. He wanted to fly the Saab so he could be based at home in HEF. They offered him the 1900, he said he wanted the Saab to stay at home. They told him 1900 take it or leave it. He's not working at Colgan.

As for outstation basing, don't depend on that. It is going away. We opened up LGA as a base to cover flying to MDT and when we took the beech out of LEB we added those lines to LGA. Next month ITH is closing as a crew base, and that was one our old staples as a base. Looking at the bids, they're also taking some flying away from CHO next month and putting it in LGA so they may be next on the list. It really looks like we're gonna be a hub based oepration sooner than later.

 

You know, I agree with a lot of what you said, but its kind of disappointing that so many are so eager to fly it for those pay rates...................

 

if you have the times i would apply to xjt. If you dont have the time you will still need the mins to upgrade which will be hard to get if MX is cancelling a decent amount of flights due to teething problems, the weather in newark is crap, or the commute didnt work out. The new airplanes will have lots of little gremlins to be worked out and i have heard colgan works you pretty hard. xjt has a good contract and you wont be flying to the same 10 airports over and over again. Also are they going to have 4 day trips or mostly day trips? The lack of per diem could cut your paycheck by 500 bucks a month. the road to the majors isnt going to be made shorter at colgan you will just get treated a lot worse then any other company. This might be a stretch but go to CHQ or REP for the quick upgrade if you want to fly something larger then 50.

to the person who asked if xjet's class date can get you in quicker: they can but maybe not now. I interviewed on a wednesday and started monday but i have heard that they are slowing things down and putting people into a pool for two weeks now... just a thought.

 

There will not be a seatlock on the Q, meaning you will not be stuck as a Q FO for a certain period of time, however there will be an equiptment lock...12 months. Also, upgrade for the Q stands at 3200 TT which they may lower to 2700.

The Q will not have day trips, they we all be multiday trips. When I started I liked the idea of per diem and staying in hotels, now I am glad I can come home eveynight. Yeah, the per diem is nice but it is up to the individual.