If I was in your position I probably wouldnt move.... but I will say that a guy in my crash pad in ATL just came to S5 from TSA after nearly a year there.... in the end YOU are the one who has to make the decision and then live with it either way.

i spent 2 and a half years 50 from the bottom of a 1000 pilot seniority list.... talk about a crappy QOL.......

 

TSA (or Mesa) to Skywest is not a lateral move, there are hundreds of them here and I've never met one who regrets coming.

But things have slowed down, so progression will not be quick for a while. You will likely have to stay east to hold a line any time soon.

You need to decide what's more important, long-term potential QOL and stability or getting hired at a major.

The big question is what will you get at TSA? 1000 hours of fast PIC...and then what will that get you? Are you more competetive than the thousands of RJ drivers who already have a resume in at FDX/UPS/SWA? If you have a solid connection at a major or military aviator wings, then maybe 1000 hours of PIC is all you really need. Otherwise the PIC may not do much for you.

You have to decide.

 

Stay put. Even SKW is not immune from the industry troubles. And you don't want to be on the bottom of the list these next few years.

 

I have a friend who went through the exact same dillema. Originally from the west coast, working at TSA, offer a job a SKW. He decided to stay put, has since upgraded and is glad he made that choice. Though his decision weighed upgrade a little more heavily, I think taking a 12 month rewind on your carrer in an unstable job market is not wisest choice.

 

have to agree with you there. pinnacle has tons of issues but if i were to leave i should have done it a long time ago when the regionals were dying for pilots. i wouldn't want to be at the bottom of any seniority list right now. not even at skywest.

skywest would still be a lateral move from tsa or mesa. a regional is a regional is a regional. sure his quality of life will improve greatly but if he wanted to make skywest his end all career he probably would have gone there in the first place instead of moving out east. he will still start as an fo, all over again making 19 bucks an hour to fly the bro. and like other guys from skywest on here have said he would be on reserve for a very long time. at least till they start to hire more people again, which they aren't doing. they are putting people in the pool right now. so the guy on the bottom of the list will be there for the duration.

 

SKW is not lateral move from TSA. Same with XJET or RAH.

First year pay is approx $23, not $19.

The decision he has to make is how happy is he going to be in the east if he gets stuck at TSA. If that isn't going to work for him (it certainly would not work for ME) then he will be coming to SKY anyway...maybe several years from now. Might as well get the seniority started. SKW is unlikely to furlough unless we have an industry catastrophe.

If you're from the west coast or rocky mountains, it's REALLY hard to adapt to humid, flat places with poor climates.

 

I am most hesitant about the industry as a whole. I believe the QOL improvement would be significant. I am concerned that I may find the only flying out west I do in my career is passing through at high altitude with the A/P on. I think that I'd feel better looking back on some interesting flying around the west coast and mountains. I am aware of the importance of PIC time but no major stands out to me right now as the place to be.

 

I'd suck it up and stay, especially if you're young and single. Do you really want to be a new hire at another RJ operator? Regardless what Rick says, I still consider it a lateral move. Similar pay and equipment, same problems/gripes everyone else at that level has, etc. If your upgrade is delayed even by an extra year out west and the gates open up again, you'll be wishing you had the PIC time.

 

I am not one to say if it is a lateral move from Transstates to SkyWest or not. You need to ask yourself the same questions most of us did. I live in the west coast and could work for SkyWest anyday, all my friends, students, relatives, work for SkyWest. Nevertheless, I decided to make the jump to Transstates 17 months ago and it works out perfect for me, my last FO bid line was number seven and I sat reserve for basically 3 weeks. TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

Things to consider:
Are you single? Girlfriend, maybe boyfriend? If married what does the wife think? Remember She counts.
Can you survive without your immediate family? You are a big boy sure you can.
Can Transstates provide any comfort for you?
Will you ever got off reserve, have days off to travel to visit family/friends?
What if SHE IT happens, can you handle Transstates for 5 more years?

Transstates is doing ok for now, more flying from American. I heard rumor we could be getting more United flying in the future due to Mesa issues. Make your choice wisely, please keep us posted, All of us at Transstates Airlines (Flight crew) love you and we want you to be happy.

P/S I bet someone lower than you at the company is hoping you leave so they can move up

 

no one can tell you what to do, but you sound like the kind of person who doesn't want to look back and regret NOT doing something. i'd do it if i were you.

i left trans states when i was almost ready to hit 3rd year pay, and i came to skywest. i had lived in los angeles, and ended up in richmond with tsa. i was amazingly happy to come to skywest and i've moved back to the la area and love the flying. my experience was different than yours will be, of course, and past performance does not guarantee future results (can you tell i used to be a stockbroker?), but tsa is not the place to sit around and wait for anything, believe me.

come to a company that likes its employees, where people actually like to work. that right there is a huge step up. add to that the bonuses that you're looking for: where you can live, and the west coast flying you want to do. i enjoyed the flying for trans states that i did on the east coast, but i'm glad it's something i did in the past versus what i'm doing now.

i'm much happier, personally, being on reserve with skywest than i was with a line at trans states.

just sharing my experience with you. again, you seem to have a lot of reasons to make the switch, so why not go for it? you're already working at one of the worst companies there is (as far as the disdain for, and the way they treat, its employees), so the worst that could happen if skywest blows up is that you'd end up somewhere else down on the list.

good luck whatever you decide.