There are a lot of new captains at SkyWest, and I am sure that they were not trying to screw you over. Don't blame the crew, blame Bombardier.

Why would this be a sign of arrogance, disrespect, or anything else for that matter? I do not always acknowledge every crewmember I walk by in the terminal either, so what? Think you're reading too much into this one. Alot of the time I'm probably just too engrossed in my own thoughts or just thinking about food or something that I don't notice. I highly doubt most co-workers in any job always nod to each other when they walk by.

My friend, that can only be from our favorite, Family Guy!!!

I have that sticker on my flight case

#1 We dont fly anything close to 100 seats..... and we've been getting the "BHO" for 700/900 for some time.
#2 We in no way undercut Skyway, their labor rates in every position of every year is less than SkyWest, fuel costs made flying DoJets ineffecient.
#3 I have never bumped a jumpseater for weight, quite an accomplishment IMO flying the 200 out of ORD. We found a way each time.
#4 We did not get Air Whiskey flying because we were the cheapest, otherwise Mesa or GoJets would've gotten it. We got it because we provide a quality product, at a good price. Yes perhaps we have cheaper labor than Air Whiskey, but I believe a lot more went into it. Do you have the same problem with CHQ getting Xjet, or Xjet getting ASA, contracts change hands. It's unfortunate, I wish I could prevent it, but right now that's the game that's played. I'm so tired of everyone acting like SkyWest undercuts everyone. If contracts went to lowest bidder everytime, SkyWest would not win any flying, because we are not the cheapest.

As far as the original thread, IF, and I say IF, anyone "envies" SkyWest, I would suspect the main two reasons would be, the quick upgrades we've had to the jet in recent years. For example, an 8 year pilot at SkyWest in ORD would hold a top 20% line in the left seat, where as a 8 year pilot at Eagle in ORD may or may not be able to hold the left seat.
And, having been at TSA, I can say for me, I would've liked to have had a good relationship between pilot group and management, which is something SkyWest seems to have.
All that being said, I'm not sure I see a lot of envy out there.

I don't always acknowledge every crewmember. With that said, I do acknowledge anyone that looks me directly in my eyes and nods. It is a simple non-verbal sign of respect and courtesy. It doesn't matter if you're flying for a Mesa, Skywest, UPS or United. The fact that you wear the uniform and "do the job" is enough for me. I guess it's the "southern gentlemen" in me that is tucked somewhere deep beneath my brash, ex-navy exterior. ;)

For the record, there is little doubt the individual in question had a self inflated ego.

With all of this said, if I had to look at the regionals again, I would certainly take a good look at Skywest because of their schedules and bases. Why? Because I live out west. Skywest consistently produces an excellent product. They should be proud of their accomplishments. They are a well run outfit - no doubt. I respect them but envy? I don't think so.

I'll take my schedule over any regional airline schedule. I'm flying nights this bid. I have seventeen days off with two, four-day weekend layovers. I'm flying twenty hours of block for the bid with only twenty total legs and we STILL made 3.5 Billion Net last year. Go figure! ;)

With that said, we don't have any pretty FA's serving coffee either...I guess everything is a trade off. ;)

I was just wondering about your lack of punctuation and random use of capitalization.

Geee, thanks dad... If we're real good for the whole rest of the week can we go fishing this weekend:rolleyes:

If any body really "envies" another airline how bout you get your butt over there. Or wait to go their in the first place. It's funny that guys will wait YEARS, kiss every butt in sight and jump through any hoop to get on with FedEx, UPS, or Southwest but when it comes time to get hired at a regional a lot of folks just take the first thing that comes with total disregard for anything like earning potential or QOL. Why is that? I think it has to do with education and wisdom. How bout we help impart that education and wisdom on the younger generations of pilots instead of "envying" others or beating others down?

NEWSFLASH boys and girls: as more domestic flying shifts to larger "regional" aircraft your stay at a regional is only going to get longer. Yeah, some guys and girls get out and on with their "career" airline in short order, but far far more get in to the regional world and can't get out, whether by their own choice or not. So you better make sure that decision you made as a kool-aid-drinkin, SJS-suffering CFI was a good one.

Used to be you'd go from a regional like TSA, Mesa or Express I (the old Pinnacle) flying a Jetstream or B1900 or an RJ (if you were lucky) straight to a legacy/major carrier. Now, as the regionals grow, minimums drop and more people make lateral moves, it seems like there is a third step shoved in there; the "good" regional. I guess what I'm trying to say is go to the "right" place for you first rather than "envying" other pilot groups. Skip the bottom feeders. Your earning potential will be higher (only have to suffer first year pay once), your quality of life will be better and maybe, just maybe, those places will be forced to "migrate UP to market". I know these are just ramblings and pipe dreams but I had to vent.

The grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, but when you leap over, you land in a bid pile of dog pooh.

You need some clarification here.....

We didn't put Skyway out of business and "steal" their flying.....MIDWEST AIRLINES shut down Skyway and GAVE us their flying. Our -200s cost the same to operate as the DorkJets with a good fraction more capacity....read: EFFICIENCY.

As far as Air Wisconsin goes.....they were a good company (and still are, I'm sure), but blame UNITED AIRLINES.....THEY, not us, decide to have us move into ORD.

"I hope it feels so good to be right. There is nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?"

I gotta agree with this guy. Some times I'm thinking about other stuff, spacing out, on the phone or something else caught my attention that I'd rather nod and smile at (like one of those SKW FA's:D). I try to acknowledge most pilots I see in the airport (GoooooJets excluded. Some of THOSE guys will grin at you like a crazy person. Clueless.) but if I don't its not because I think I'm better than you or I think you/your company/your pilot group wronged me. I mean, I know I'm a cool guy and everything but don't take it personally if I don't run over and shake your hand and tell you what a great job I think you're doing just because you have stripes on your sleeves:D

Actually the regional industry is expected to shrink over the next several years with more flights going to mainline. Retirements are also expected to increase as the baby boomers make their moves. They might have to stay longer than 3yrs but big deal. Currently we are out of the norm with the speed up upgrades/hires. This time extending a little would be things returning back to normal.

why do you wonder, this is not english lesson 101 if it annoys you you are welcome to correct it, I could not care anyless, I am posting on an internet website not writing a Thesis..

egsact...preecis....apbbsulut..........Hes' right.!:D

:).............

LoL if we wanted to be perfect spellers we wouldn't be Airline Pilots - we would have gone to school a lot longer...I don't think there are any Walt Whitmans or Stephen Kings here...:D

I take exception to that.

Agreed...I hope that we're right, TD.

Come on over to SLC.... we do it to each other ! Kinda weird, actually. I don't think that they're "tools" for doing so. Who knows, maybe their cat just died?

At the smaller domiciles, this isn't a factor. Just like the friendliness of a small town over the indifference felt in a larger one, I think that's what's at work.

Let's see... kicked out twice..... I wonder if the problem is SkyPest, or you?

I'm sure anybody would be happy to add 40 pounds to politely tell a challenging jumpseater to go bye bye.

The only Pilot that I won't give a nod of respect to is a GoJet one.

Bad choice of words on my part Tony, as far as "kicked out", I meant to say the weight/balance didn't work. Have never been anything but professional and polite, despite any problem with the jumpseat. I can make 40 pounds disappear faster than Britney Spears loses her panties just to make sure a guy gets a ride home.

Who knows, maybe as previously mentioned they were new captains and just going by the book.

Sonic it depends on the Flavor of the Day some guys are very anal about that sort of stuff, how ever I agree with you 40lbs can be lost by dropping getting configured early, a little bit of spoilers ect ect.. some guys dont feel comfortable doing that unless its the last day for them on the last day of a 4 day trip and they want to get home then they would not mind you Thinking outside the box..

for the RECORD I have never Left anyone behind because of w/b maybe I am just lucky

No need to burn extra fuel in that case - this has nothing to do with that...you doctor the paperwork is all.

exactly, considering the passenger weight and baggage estimates that you use anyway to do a w/b, youd be lucky if you were even within 1000 lbs of actual weight. but thats good enough for performance numbers since theyre conservative anway. thus the reason you should never leave a jumpseater behind :)

I wouldn't doctor any paperwork. There are several legal ways to get them on, especially if it was that close. Depending on the company, get with your dispatcher and show an extra 40 pounds of taxi fuel burn. That is by far the easiest way to do it.

Don't admit to doctoring anything on a public forum. You aren't as anonymous as you think.

Exactly...

ghilis knows what I'm talking about - you and I said the same thing dude.

Saying it the way you did implies doing something you shouldn't. I legally worked out how to get hundreds of jumpseaters on board, but I never "doctored" anything.

I know what you meant but not everyone one would with the usual connotation of that word. Just saying be careful.

Where I come from, "doctoring" is a commonly and widely used word LoL. Point taken.

As in, management is "doctoring" your pay scale? Point taken.

I think he is talking about RJs with more than 50 seats. Those should be at mainline. The more of those flown by regionals, the longer it takes for regional pilots to get to the mainline. Personally, I would like to see any jet flown by mainline pilots and leave the regionals to flying 1900s, Saabs, Brasilias, and Dash 8s.

Real clever, buddy :rolleyes:

Oh...so thats what the Big Boys mean when they say "shrinking domestic capacity":rolleyes:

I'll believe it when I see it. I think you're gonna see the regionals "shrink" by increasing the size of the aircraft and reducing the number, slowly eating away at the bottom levels of the majors. Mesa and RAH already fly 86 seat "RJs". Thats a DC-9 folks. So yeah...shrinking regionals...I'll believe it when I see it.

Three words; Gouda flavored cheddar. mmm...

ryguy, im sure your familiar with operations in places such as Hong Kong, and how they regularly lie about our cargo loads. 40 lbs is nothing compared to those a-holes on the ground who sneak on an extra 10,000 to 20,000 lbs of freight and fudge the numbers on us. if youre upset about taking an extra jumpseater, think about that next time you see your w/b on your 747.

Envy Skywest? I think not. Where do these notions come from?

Agree. When Skywest has a thread with over 2000 replies and 145,000 views, we can say folks are paying attention to them.

I agree that we should all pay attention to them because they are one of the larger regionals. Example: how that craptastic excuse for a pay proposal that passed and how its going to affect other people other than them. I know managements in the industry sure as hell were paying attention to that one.