Mesa Vs Pinnacle
 

Which one is worse and which one has potential to be better? I hear Mesa doesn't pay for deadheading flight hours and for canceled flights but Pinnacle does, is this true? How are the negotiations going at these companies?

Both are considered kind of crappy places to work. Mesa pays 1/2 time for deadhead and pays for some cancelations, but not all.

Pinnacle has issues with the NWA bankruptcy and possible loss of aircraft (NWA is creating their OWN regional to compete with PIN and Mesaba).

If you're making a decision between the two, research the NWA CH.11 situation, I believe PIN may be hiring to replace FO's who are leaving for other airlines (because they fear a furlough). Also consider geography...a little geographic advantage levels the playing field between any two regionals real quick. You are MUCH better off living in a junior domicile at a crappy regional than commuting 2000+ miles for a better regional. Arguing about quality of regionals is kind of like two hookers arguing about their relative virginity...

:D I see some of the funniest sayings from people on these boards

The Pinnacle guys I know seem to be okay with it. Just as long as you move to your domicile, things aren't too bad there. Being an NWA carrier, there does appear to be more instability than other airlines.

I know a couple Mesa guys, and they seem to be up and down on the company. I don't hear a lot of specifics on Mesa, since none of my good friends work there, but I run into guys I know that work there every now and then. One minute they love it, next minute they hate it. I guess the work rules there can really **** a person off sometimes

Mesa vs. Pinnacle
 

Working at ATP I have come across pilot from many different regional careers. Everyone has there own complaints about the company they work for, but all have said that at least they don't work for Mesa. The few Pinnacle guys that I have met, said that it was okay, but not the best. I have had a handfull of Mesa pilots come in to take their ATP written, and all have said that they call Mesa, Making Employees Suffer Alot, and said that if they could do it again, that they would go elsewhere. I met one of Mesa's chief pilots and he was one of the biggest idiots I had ever met. So just from meeting all of these people, I would say go Pinnacle.

If you are looking for stablilty between the two I'd definitely go to Mesa. They've got alot of cash in the bank and more irons in the fire as a code share. If you want QOL, try for Skywest or better yet a cushy gov't job...

The A stands for Always...what were the CP's initials, odds are your opinion is spot on!

Mesa CP
 

His initials were A.H.

I agree...got nothing for him!

What did the guy say?


Yea, I hear many say that Pinnacle likes pilots to be near the domicile. Problem with me is that I don't want to move to a domicile out East,maybe just for reserve, because I have property in Socal and would like to commute. Mesa would be great because of the PHX base but I wouldn't mind taking the 3 hour flight to Pinnacle's domiciles.

As someone who has worked at Mesa and now works at 9E I will say that for starters my life here at 9E is way better than it ever was at Mesa. When I went to mesa I was one of the poor ba$tards that was put into the beech being promised an extrememly short upgrade and that I would be flying constantly. First I never wanted the beech.... however at the time I was hired we were given the speech that what we were offered is what we would get and we could not ask for another aircraft...... Take it or leave it. When I went to the beech all of the upgrades got frozen and I got stuck on reserve for the whole year I was there. In the mean time I had to watch MAPDers get hired into the jet (junior to me) get assigned to a base thats 20 mins from my front door, get hardlines and get paid more than me... (Plus I would hear them b!tch about it all the time) All the while I was being told that there was no way I would ever hold that jet FO slot and the closest base I could get to home was PIT. In my year at MESA I flew approx 175 hours even with calling crewtracking and asking them to fly me. Yes life at Mesa BLEW... When I came to 9E my pay immediately went up.... not by much but as a regional FO every little bit helps. I sat 1.5 months on reserve and then I held an 11 day off line... Needless to say I have never gone back on reserve and my # of days off has significantly gone up since.... My commute is much easier and CASS definately helps. Finally I can honestly say I have averaged about 85 to 90 hours a month of flight time the whole time I have been here (even on rsv). So bottom line no matter how bad things get here at 9E and even on my worst of days I can still say its better than my life was at MESA.

MESA = My Employer $ucks A$$

Go to Pinnacle, if ya don't like it try Mesa, if ya hate that too than figure out which airline you really want to go work for and make a plan to get there.

Just to clarify, who is 9E??

Not to be a smart a$$ but read the title of this thread and try to figure it out

We have several former Mesa pilots at 9E, and all of them seem to think that Pinnacle is far better (which is just sad, considering how bad 9E is). I would suggest looking at ASA, PSA, Horizon, Eagle, etc... before coming here. But, if you must choose one of the two, then Pinnacle is most likely the better choice.