Some Eagle questions...
 

Ok, I'm asking a lot but I'm seriously considering a change and looking for some up-to-date info about Eagle...so thanks in advance.

Basically I'm considering moving over to Eagle mainly for the BOS base and wondering how life up there is, and whether or not the sale will have any effect on that base. I understand the upgrades are long (any updates on that by the way?) but I'm going nowhere in a hurry at my current company and even reserve is increasing month after month it seems; it would be a lateral move at best but at least I'd be in base and I'm trying to weigh whether or not it's worthit just to be in base (my gut tells me yes). I've read a bit about the reserve life, I'm just trying to get an idea of what life in general is like for you guys up there. Is the contract somewhat decent as far as pay protection/duty time etc goes?

Thanks all. I know some of that involves the magic 8 ball but maybe some of you guys over there know some stuff I don't. Gotta love the gambling in this business......

Been here over 3 years so if I don't cover it here, just PM me.

-Can choose base and they won't call you until it's available
-Reserve is a no-man's-land of never knowing when you're going to be released, but what else is new? The only advantage at Eagle is that you can see what is available and bid it according to your seniority on reserve.
-For Example:
Say tomorrow shows 5 trips. One 4 day, two 2 days and three single day trips. The guy at the top of reserve gets whatever he wants and so on down the line. If there's the 5 trips and 10 guys on reserve, there's also what's called RAPs and ready reserves. The RAPs are just a 2 hour callout before you fly and the ready reserve is what it is. One nice thing is that through Saber you can look and see what everyone's schedule is on reserve so if you take the time you can bid accordingly.

I don't know how long reserve is anymore, but I did it for 2 years and I made the best of it. You get 11 days off and if you work the system you can bid a conflict and get 12 days off a month no problem.

-Lineholding is like a different company. They screw with you a little, but the 100% line guarantee is a lock on pay. You get paid for what you bid. If you fly over that amount at the end of the month you get paid that amount. Out of BOS you'll be flying out of there on day one and returning day four. You're based in BOS, but in reality all of your trips will be through LGA and RDU. The overnights are generally in pretty good hotels and the $1.65 per diem does add up after 300 hours on a typical line. Lines average between 18 days off and 11 days off with 14 days off being common.

-The direction of this company is in question and management is playing the ostrich card and burying its head in the sand. Nothing new there. My guess is that if we do get more planes, they will simply be in trade for the current 135s on property for no net gain.

-Eagle is a great place to be if you can handle the lack of upgrades. From what I can guess, you're looking at probably 4-5 years minimum to upgrade.

-Travel benefits are top notch. AA lists you the same as an Eagle employee as it does an 777 captain at AA when you travel. First come, first served.

-Bottom line is that if you live in base, which it sounds like you might, then Eagle would be a wise choice. Reserve isn't so bad if you can bid from your living room.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks for the response! Good to see it's not all negative.

it realy is good to see. ;-)

Thank you for not bashing the company...it's so easy for folks to 'flame' on AE, BUT...people with good attitudes, like yourself, are the kind of people I enjoy flying with most.

Gracias

OK, here's your Eagle bashing!

Flame......Flame.......Flame......Flame......Flame .....Bash.....Bash.....Bash....Bash.......Flame! LOL! :D

Good luck guys!

labbats

what a/c are avail out of DFW?

What's wrong with Comair? :p Do you commute from BOS to JFK? How is that?

Have the new pay rates come out yet? How much did the pay go up from last year?

.05 extra $15 a month on per diem......(i think)

ERJ and SAAB. You see some CRJs running around DFW but I think those are coming and going to and from ORD. You AE jet guys can correct me if I am wrong on the CRJ in DFW.

The ERJ is everywhere except MIA and SJU. Also, rumor has it they aren't sending new hires to MIA anymore...just something I have been hearing in the hallways.

DFW ORD are Saab ERJ and CRJ.
BOS LGA are ERJ
LAX is Saab and ERJ
MIA SJU are ATR

Per diem went up a nickel to 1.65 and we got our annual cost of living raise of 1.8%, which should be 2.2%, but that's going to a judge. Let's not get into that. At any rate, just add roughly 2% to the payscales on the Eagle page.

Living in southern NH, that commute was proving to be a lot tougher than advertised. Sure there are plenty of flights, but between getting to BOS somehow (parking at BOS is way too expensive), and getting all the way to my crashpad took just as long if not longer than driving from up there to JFK so that's what I do now. It actually works out great, if I only have a couple days off then I fly home and back and leave my car at JFK. The schedule and the stagnation (is that even a word?) of the reserve length made me contemplate the move, as well as the hiring slow down and the recent cut back announcements...I had one soft day off the other day and I spent it at my crashpad because it's not enough time to go home; I understand being so junior I don't have much right to complain too much yet, but the last few months I haven't gone up the chain so I thought maybe if I were in base it might be different, even if I still didn't move up much.

Ironically I was watching The Shining and found some parallels between Jack Torrance and myself getting a bit stir crazy...ok so maybe he got a little more extreme than me but you get the point...:D

Yea I dont understand why people bash Eagle it is a good company, good contract, work rules, and pay. So what if you sit reserve for over a year and it takes 5 to be a capt. Personally I think sitting reserve at home would be awesome. Some people just want to have their cake and eat it too.