Because Lakes codeshares with United, they 'purposefully' oversell all flights out of ISN, and now DIK. Every oversold seat for United(cancelations or limitations) goes on Lakes.......needless to say those that find out their ticket doesn't get them on a shiny jet get rather upset. Especially if they had to pay more than a normal Lakes ticket.


As far as rumors, I can give you some facts instead. There are new classes 'scheduled', if pilots show up to these I will be shocked.

There is ALWAYS one Bro parked, rotated for heavy M/X. Lakes only operates 5 at any given time. To see how flying is affected from this 'mass exodus' ask someone to compare flight hours each month per base and review the open time.

When UAL oversells, the pax don't pay for a ticket on us...UAL pays us to put them on, and that's at the FIM (Flight Interruption Manifest) price (uber-expensiveola, or so I have been told), but we pay the same vice-versa.

As far as EMB's parked, 2 were parked, but not due to lack of pilots. I believe they reduced the pilot lines in anticipation for possible pilot departures, but the main reason for the parked EMB's is due to engine overhauls. 1 is close to a heavy check, thus 'donated' its engines to the last aircraft that was in for its heavy. The 2nd had an engine due to overhaul as well. We currently have 5 running, and 1 waiting for engines.

Porcupine: The complaints are that they miss your Fire Detection expertise, and routine greasers!

It has to do with the united or delta agents. They are not really united or delta agents ( some outsourced ground handling), and when there is a delay or cancelation, for whatever reason, the agents dont reaccommodate their passengers. They just give them the 1800#. Our agents would at least bust them selves and try to accommodate as best as possible.

Where are new hires going? 1900 or 120? How hard is to get Denver right away or Farmington and hold a line? Are upgrades still under a year? What do lines look like in regards to trips and days on the road?

You beat me to it. Great minds think alike!

What are the + & - of each aircraft both flying and qol?

Steak can answer this one but I can give a few details:

EMB: Current bases are ISN (Williston, ND) and DEN. Not sure how long we'll keep crews up there but I'm thinking probably not after Feb '14, but that's just my opinion. Commute up to ISN has gotten much easier with Expressjet and Skywest also operating up there. We are fairly full out of DEN and weight restricted too, so having additional seats is helpful.
Schedules are hit or miss each month. They send the EMB where they can fill it, so we only go to a certain number of cities. Sometimes they increase or decrease capacity depending on the time of the year. Average days off for a line holder are 11-13 days off, but I've seen more. Average flight time is 75-80 with a little more or a little less. With the FO's leaving, I'd say holding a line immediately is very possible.

I enjoy the EMB, but I'm biased. I've been on it 9 out of 10 years.

So no domiciles in Phoenix or lax? The route map shows those as hubs. I am in El Paso and would have to commute so the west is best for me.

I wish. Current domiciles...

BE–1900
DEN Denver, CO
CYS Cheyenne, WY
FMN Farmington, NM
MSP Minneapolis, MN
PRC Prescott, AZ
PIR Pierre, SD
FOD Fort Dodge, IA

EMB-120
ISN Williston, ND
DEN Denver, CO

Is Lakes Air canceling flights due to lack of pilots yet?

Might want to look into SkyWest for throes type of bases

On the 1900 you have a much more diverse set of destinations (I think the Bro goes to 6 stations now and the Beech 35+)... DEN EAR RIW SHR and good ol DIK and ISN up in Nokdak. No offense to my Bro brothers at Lakes but I would not have as much fun flying to only a few spots. You do a lot of scenic flying in the Beech... Telluride takes the cake of course but really almost all the beech flying Rockies westward is pretty. And I enjoy looking out the window.

DEN CA on the Bro looks much more senior than the Beech.

With the Beech the FO is typically boarding/deboarding/briefing the pax; no F/A like on the Bro. I don't mind dealing with people, but it makes things that much more rushed as your head is out of the flying game for a few minutes on each turn.

Not yet, but with the amount of people leaving and the lack of new hires its going to start happening very soon.

As far as I know we have not cancelled any flights yet due to staffing issues. However, the company told us that we can expect to have our vacation weeks cancelled. I was surprised/ not surprised to read that our contract allows the company to cancel our vacations so long as we are given 7 days notice. I sure hope no one is planning on getting married or have a baby during their vacation week. At least the company says that you can have another vacation week next year!

FMLA will take care of the baby thing...

True, FMLA can help in the event of the birth of a child. There are however a few things to remember in regard to FMLA

1) You must be a full time employee with at least one full year of service before you qualify

2) It is not paid

How is Great Lakes' interview and training process?

Please don't tell me that the pay sucks...I know that already.

The interview is fairly easy if you just know your stuff.. the training process is two months where you have to learn and absorb everything you are able to, and take every test seriously. It is not a two month vacation at all, its a long time and a relief when its done.

As for the pay, until you are living it, you have no idea at all...

Great Lakes has a fairly high washout rate in training, something on the order of 40%-50% last time I checked. The up side of this is nobody gets hired until they pass training which saves their PRIA image somewhat.

Yeah, but that means you can go 3 months without being paid, all while watching people around you get ousted.

GL doesn't even help you get to the interview.

We do if you live at a station we serve. Delta doesn't positive space you on United to get to a Delta interview, do they? As much as I'd like, if you lived in NYC and we served NYC, you'd probably be provided a seat on us. Remember, our system isn't spread out as much as others carriers.

As far as washout rate, it's mainly due to proficiency issues. The training has been revamped. It's a lot of information, but somebody who puts in the study time is fully capable of finishing. As far as flight proficiency though, that's up to the applicants. Come prepared to fly on instruments or it may not end well. We don't train to fly on autopilot all of the time (EMB). You still need to know how to fly.

No they don't, but they will positive space you on Chautauqua, Shuttle America, ASA, Skywest, Expressjet, Endeavor, Compass, etc.

That's one of the perks of contracting flying with other carriers, huh? They have positive space agreements, we have to buy tickets. That's the difference.

With what Lakes pays, would you really notice a difference? :D:p

Nooooope!!!!!!!!!!

Lakes is going to have a booth at the July 20th job fair in Vegas. Can you seriously see anybody that meets ATP mins willfully signing on with this outfit? Come on. 16k a year. You can get more on unemployment and government assistance. I have no beef with the Laker pilots, you gotta do what you gotta do, I'm just saying when I entered the regional world 7 years ago, I took a pass on Lakes. For that matter, Mesa too.

But as soon as you have 1000 hrs SIC you will be able to upgrade on a short line. Because they are so short they will fly you a whole lot and you will likely met the requirements for an upgrade under two years all the while everyone else averages a 6+ year upgrade. This will be the selling factor, it has and always will draw enough candidates. As upgrade times around the industry fall then they will have an issue but with the current amount of 50 seaters being parked over the next 2 years upgrade times will not plummet to the levels of GLA.

I can't wait for this place to die AND, for all the pilot's to be able to land better jobs.