Skywest
 

What are the junior bases at SKW? How long is the reserve on CRJs, and how much hiring are they planing in 2008. Also, I only hear good things about Skywest, wny are they better then the rest of regionals out there?

Thanks in advance.

Hot flight attendants! :D

ORD definitely, maybe MKE. things move fast for FOs though. no reserve really in ORD if hiring keeps up. those are on the jet, i don't know about the brasilia. 400 in the first 6 months of 2008, is what they've shown us.

we're not "better" than any other company, but most of us that work here, and definitely those of us that came from other regionals, feel that skywest is a "better" place to work. it really comes down to management's attitude toward labor. most airlines have management that have a pretty bad attitude toward the employees, especially pilots. tolerent is the word that comes to mind in most cases, and outright hostile in others. whereas skywest management realizes that the employess are the reason for the company's success, and it shows. it really feels different here, and i'm happy because of that. is it perfect? no, of course not. no job anywhere is perfect, and most people in most lines of work hate their jobs. for 35 years skywest has placed part of its focus on keeping the employees happy, and it does make a difference. that's my 2 cents worth.

How senior (for FO's) are the California bases? I would be willing to go to any of those bases: MRY, SAN, FAT, SBP, SBA, PSP, SMF, LAX, or SFO. Is it true there are no lines out of LAX and SFO? How about for Captains? Any goods or bads about any particular base?

EMB guys, how is the flying, lines, QOL? I will take whatever aircraft Skywest gives me, but I don't think I would mind the EMB first year, and then upgrade to RJ FO when the pay goes up, and RJ capt when I can upgrade.
Thanks.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I'm at 135 company and everything is great, QOL and pay, but I didn't even get 500 hours this past year. At that rate I got two more years before even getting close to CA seat. So I'm looking at regionals and, may be I should take a pay cut that first year but come out with more TT? It seems like if I stay here I will upgrade in 2+ years and so if I was at SKW. The differences I see right now would be: At SKW more TT, 121 time, schedule, have to commute. If I stay were I'm at, then less TT, all 135 time, no schedule, no contract, no commute. Any thoughts to help me with this decision?

I am in sort of the same situation I fly for a 135 operator that has a great QOL but I will fly about 400 hours this year. I flew for a crappy 121 operator for 6 months and hated it. At this time I would never go back to the airlines even if I could upgrade in six months and am going to hopefully go to one of the fractionals in the next six months. My prediction and I could be totally wrong is that the charter and fractional market will keep growing for a long time because the people who fly on these planes are the rich of the rich and they do not care if oil goes through the roof they will pay more just for the ability to go where they want. Places like Skywest are great places to go to and I have friends that enjoy working there but what if they stop growing or lose a contract you may be stuck as an FO for years making 40 thousand a year, Doesn't sound like fun to me.

135 time is not as likely to land you a major job as 121 RJ time. There are many variables, but that's the way it is. 135 folks have gotten and will continue to get major jobs, but unless you have other factors (connections, affirmative action) the RJ people have better odds.

Most are junior for EMB FO's. But all will be phased out and replaced by jets in the mid-term.

LAX and SFO usually have three reserve lines each, no hard lines.

APC says its $19/hour the first year at SKW. About how much would it be a year based on current flying demand + per diem? I know upgrades are seniority based, but going to SKW with 1200 TT 600ME, 600PIC, 600Turbine and ~500 part 135, it is reasonable to think of upgrade possibility in two years or so? Also, if I get a chance to upgrade in two years would it be a hard transition or being on the line for two years would be enough to have a solid grip on the operation.
Thanks

[quote=VitaliyG;271538]Thanks for clearing that up for me. I'm at 135 come, schedule, have to commute. If I stay were I'm at, then less TT, all 135 time, no schedule, no contract, no commute.


It's early in your career. Why would you "have to commute?"

I do understand if you have a wife and kids.
Had I gotten out of that way of thinking, i'd have been at a major much much earlier.

Best wishes to you.

I did 135/91 for a year and 1/2 and hated it... The flying was fun, weird destinations and the Lear is freaking rocket (I loved that thing)... but I hated not having a schedule and being in Stby all the time. Plus I felt like I was living in the airport waiting for passengers that would just show up whenever they felt like it, then we had to carry their bags to the airplane and do all the ground work (fueling, flight plan...) 16 hour duty days with 1 hr flight time was very usual...
Of course I blame all these to the company I was working for... no respect or work rules for their pilots.
I think under the right $$$$$circumsntances$$$$ this could be the best job ever, unfortunately I had a bad experience.

The California bases are super senior, and really tough when you do get it because you are on the bottom of the list for a long long time. SLC isn't too bad because of all of the growth, but you can expect an ORD or MKE base if you get hired at this time. Most of the people in ORD are just waiting out another base, so if you can live there you will hold a good line very quickly and have a rock star schedule in a year.

The environment at SkyWest is a lot better than my last job, and the pilot group is really great. SkyWest also has the growth potential to keep upgrade times low and domicile movement free, so QOL stays good because you don't spend a lot of time at the bottom of the totem pole. As has been mentioned before we got a memo in the company email with the hiring schedule, and we are planning on hiring a lot of pilots in the spring. They quit upgrades this fall because they were unable to cover flights with FO's.:eek:

As far as pay goes $19.25 is lower than average, but to compare I was paid around $22.40 at my last job but because of the way SkyWest pays you (full deadhead pay, higher daily guarantee, higher monthly guarantee) my checks have actually been a little bigger after deductions and everything than they were at my last job. You can't just look at the hourly rate to compare what you will make at an airline job. That said bonuses shouldn't be considered part of the compensation package when comparing jobs either because you can't be certain that you will get it. It's all a crap shoot in the end but IMHO SkyWest is a safe bet.

...and because we are stocked up on captains at the moment.

Two years could be reasonable if more growth arrives. Otherwise I'd guess 3-4. years. Your time is typical for a Skywest new-hire, except for the turbine time. Unfortunately it won't give you an advantage because of your lower total time...

To upgrade you will need 2500 TT, so you would need close to two years online just to get to that, less if you pick up extra flying.

You also need 1000 hours turbine CREW time (solo metro, caravan, etc doesn't count). If you had high total time AND turbine crew time, you could probably upgrade early by bypassing more senior FO's who don't meet the experience requirements. But you still need 1300 hours TT anyway, so even if you hit the turbine requirement early, you'd still need more total time. By the

did you guys get the kansas city base yet?

power of grayskull?

Don't know were you pulled that out of, but that's the funniest thing I've read in a LONG time!!!!!

he-man...great cartoon...i even had a he-man big wheels

wow, these new FOs get younger and younger...

No MCI base yet.

Actually I'm 36 and know exactly were it came from. I was just admiring how he actually thought of it.

I live in MCI, that would be a godsend. Do you think MCI will be a highly desired dom to get?

Look for it early next year...!

You always seem to have the inside info... What am I going to get from Santa?

A reduction in flying. LOL! :D

But look on the bright side; at least JA/CC/BH now admit our Emb & 1st yr boys/girls deserve more money!

Yea, I wish. I doubt he visits crew hotels on the 25th? :rolleyes:

Hard to tell. I think a lot of Denver guys would love to upgrade into MCI instead of having to commute to ORD.

Ding...Ding...Ding! Its about time! As you know, we break our back here doing 22-24 leg four day trips all for a lousy 20 F'n hours of credit. We are a member of this family too.......!

I am voting our new pay proposal down if it includes the Brasilia. You guys are overpaid! Now that I am on second year, RJ pay, screw everyone else! (note the sarcasm before flaming)

Actually, I wonder how much they will give you/us? SAPA apparently already said no to the first proposal without even letting us see it. Makes me a little nervous...

I would also like to go to MCI, but I am also curious as to how many Denver guys will take that short commute. But with the new RJs assumingly going to the west coast, many west coast guys who commute to Denver will probably take those bases. Obviously it is going to take a year or more before any new west coast bases open, if any at all. Pure speculation on my part.

This is true. Although I am not so sure that I am nervous. From those I have talked to SAPA wants to prove to us they can get us some of the things that we want and will not just bow down to mngmt first offer. From what I can gather this could be a decent pay package.

I wish that would give me more confidence. Although just a couple bucks raise would be a relatively huge percentage increase for me. That's how it will be spun I'm sure.

The fact that we have to negotiate instead of them giving us a nice raise is what worries me. I figured by the letters they sent out that they would play nice and take care of us. It is too early to start saying bad things since we haven't seen the pay proposal they voted down or the one that we are going to vote on. From what I understand, we'll see it pretty soon!

How does an all reserve base work? If there is no flying actually assigned to the base, what do they cover -- pilots coming through who get sick enroute, DH to other bases to cover open time? I'm confused. Thanks.

LAX and SFO are UAL hubs, so a great many SKW UAX flights operate of those airports. SKW (for several reasons) has found it convenient to base the pilots who support those hubs at outstations...that way they are in position to start their day with the early-am flight for pax who need to get to a hub to make a connection. That way SKW doesn't have to get hotels at the outstations.

The reserves are there mostly to cover duty time-outs or mx repo flights, although they could get DH'ed to an outstation for a sick call (the outstations have their own reserves however). Also if you're in the middle of a trip and get sick, most folks will try to make it back to a pilot base before they call in sick (if possible).

I want to understand how pay negotiations go at Skywest (being non-union).
How often are you guys able to negotiate pay increases? Does this happen every year, or at a set time interval, or only when management says they feel like increasing pay? What happens if the membership votes down a pay proposal? Do they go back to the bargaining table?
Can any Skywest pilots can jump in and let me know how pay changes work at Skywest.
Thanks.

From what I gather after the first meeting with SAPA they were offered pay that exceeded ASA's TA but SAPA said you can still do better than that. I choose to look at this as a half glass full situation. Mngmt did take care of us but sapa is trying to do the same for once. To me the fact that sapa did not just say "thank you so much forth generous pay increase" and go on with there merry way is a good sign to me.

Younger and Younger? Come on, I'm 28 and grew up with He-Man. I'd hardly call myself young compared to the pokemon generation coming out of college.

I have no idea what was offered, so I ASSUMED it wasn't very good if SAPA turned it down. I will take your word for it and have a glass of Koolaid poured by Wavit that the company and SAPA are in the process of taking care of us.

As for the pay negotiations...

I started last September and was around for the last pay proposal. It came out in response to us taking the 700 flying for United and keeping the same pay rates, temporarily. Apparently, we were awarded the United flying in 2004? and didn't receive the 700 override pay until November 2006. SAPA approved the company pay proposal and sent it out to the pilots for vote. It passed 55% -
45%. That pay scale was valid until 2010. I guess we would negotiate a new pay scale in 2010?

I think that since we voted down the union, they are listening to our wants and concerns. They said repeatedly that they didn't want to deal with a middle man (ALPA) regarding our pay and QOL. So now they are sticking to their words. I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if the pilots voted NO. Currently, our representation is negotiating some additions in work rules and a pay increase.

I, like 65% of other pilots at SkyWest, trust that our management will do the right thing. Our president always is thankful and sincere in his letters to SkyWest employees. I met him briefly in ORD and he seemed like a down to earth guy. Not like the Glenn Tiltons of the world who thrive on power. We should have something in the next couple of weeks to be voted on. The company wants to get it done before January 1st.

SAPA is having their monthly meetings today and tomorrow, and the heavy hitters are supposed to be there to answer questions. Anything that comes out I will post here.

To my recollection, He-man was popular in 1985. I was 5 and got tons of that stuff for Christmas. The good ol' days...

I like you Koolaid HOPE that what this means is that The company and SAPA are taking care of us. Hope is the key word there. Right now I am drinking the Koolaid right along with you. If proven wrong that Koolaid will leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Koolaid! Me too :-)