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- - Mesaba vs. ASA (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/regional/21295-mesaba-vs-asa.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Lumberg (Post 304112)

Avoid ASA like the plague. You have been warned. I have a few friends there and they all are trying to "escape." Go where the growth is - Mesaba at the moment. Of course, you never know what will happen if Delta and NWA merge. All I know is that my friends at ASA hate it. Enough said.

I work at ASA, and I really like it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truman_Sparks (Post 304264)

I work at ASA, and I really like it.

Amen to that! Honestly I have yet to meet someone that works here at ASA and hates it exclusively. That is, they would probably hate most flying jobs out there. Then again Im sure they have had much different experiences than me. It's been a lot of fun and I enjoy the people I work with. That probably helps.

I also interviewed at both ASA and Mesaba. I was also offered a job at both. So I really feel your pain. Both are great places to work and I am greatfull to have been lucky enough to have to make the hard decision. I ended up choosing the Mesaba job, but it did take some major thought. I am glad of my decision, but one thing that I did not account for in my research was that it will take me longer to actually start at mesaba. I interviewed at asa on 12/09 and class was to start on 12/27. I interviewed at measba on 12/18 and got a 3/10 class. Soooo....if you are poor and need to start right away......?

I also got offers from both and chose Mesaba. Starting in May and am upgrading this spring. I am an upper midwest guy though so an MSP base did it for me. We are still growing and have great people who are generally happy (getting some provisions back after bankruptcy) and the flow through has started. However, as noted before, if you are coming in now the instabilty of the industry as a whole means don't count on upgrades/flowthrough or anything a year from now.

I would say go with QOL--whatever that means to you.

QOL is everything. Which company would you be happier at? (Or less grumpy...)

Pay could be higher year for year at ASA, but poor is poor, so which company would you be happy at while you're poor?

QAL is the most important thing. If you have to comute to both then I would say Mesaba is your best choice. Just from experience, after you make your choice make the best of it. You can be happy anywhere! And some people can be unhappy anywhere and try to bring you down with them. The grass is always greener during the hard times. In this industry companies go up and down!!!!
Good Luck!

Go to the place with the easy commute.

Onthemissed, did you used to work for Big Sky?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JetJock16 (Post 304093)

First off congratulations, you’re in a rare position seeing you have a choice which is something many don’t get. Both are good companies but there's a world of difference between them.

Mesaba's set to get 10 more CR2's and 22 more CR9's (#’s could be different, just pulled it off of APC). That's HUGE when you look at the big picture. Also if NWA decides to pull more a/c from Pinnacle then you can expect Mesaba to grow even more. Mesaba's owned by mainline which could be good and could be bad only time will tell. For examples just look at DAL and Comair/ASA (ASA was sold to SKW) also AA and AE. Growth means little reserve, relatively quick upgrades and better QOL because of seniority gained from massive hiring. Pay is industry average to below for almost all years (except first) but I'm sure that's set to change. 3 domiciles to choose from also improve QOL. It’s always nice to have choices.

ASA's got no growth on the books and maybe some reduction with DAL announcing a 35 jet reduction in regional flying in 08. Also, I could be wrong, but I think the ATR's time is extremely limited. Pay is near industry leading with excellent QOL and pay rigging. 1 Domicile means no choices. Upgrades around 3 years and they'll probably stay there due to attrition.

My advice, look at were you live and choose which ever has a base there. If neither do and you plan on commuting then look at the number of daily trips between the two cities taking into account the type of a/c (50 seaters are not good a/c to depend on when commuting). Also look at the airport itself, example ORD is not a good apt to commute to due to shear volume and a poor design that restricted apt growth. MEM and ATL (based there and ATL’s very efficient even though it’s the worlds busiest apt) should be very easy to get in and out of. If you’re going to move to the domicile then look more at the airlines position as far as its future’s concerned. This website should help you determine the number of daily flight and types of a/c, it's a wonderful tool for all commuters.

http://www.nonrev.net/tools/timetable/

In the end I think both have good futures but Mesaba’s where I’d be headed if I had your choice. Their growth and domiciles are the determining factor for me.

Best of luck!

JJ

If I recall, Pinnacle has a fixed-unit contract with NWA. They can't reduce it below somewhere around 120ish...so not many more. I'm pretty sure they can't reduce the number of units unless those units are replaced with 900s. Which leads me to believe they'll give at least some of those 900s to 9E once they get their 900 rates settled (IF they get those settled)...because 1) 50 seaters are money-losers now, 2) NWA can't reduce the number of units 9E has without replacing them with at least 50 seaters, and 3) NWA has much more leverage to mess with their fully-owned subsidiary than they do with now-independent 9E. Witness Comair transferring planes to ASA once ASA was sold off to Skywest...perfect industry example.

Insanely radical, yup I did.. I was just finishing IOE when we got the bad news. Did you work there too?