Terantious

I will keep it simple. I have offers at both companies and i am sure many of you have been doing this a lot longer than i have so i am looking for your thoughts. I will of course make the final decision, just looking for opinions and this venue seems to have plenty of those
Below are the basic details of both.

American Eagle:
Commute to ORD from West coast
CRJ-700
Projected to hire 40 a month

SkyWest:
No Commute (1.5 hour drive to base)
EMB-120 (1 yr seat lock)
EMB-120 pays less
Projected to hire 25 a month

Thanks,

meyers9163

Wait a commute vs no commute? Two solid companies? Hmmm are you really asking this question?

Flyby1206

Is it a sure thing to be based on the west coast as a newhire with Skywest? I thought they were parking all their E120s? I am out of touch on the Skywest news and latest.

Things are cranking along pretty strong at Eagle, and while the future is a crapshoot you have to go with what looks good for you today. Eagle is actively transferring CAs to AA at a rate of 40/mo for the past few months and is projecting that to continue through June 2011, training dept is hiring 50+/mo, upgrades have dropped from 10yrs to 5yrs over the course of a 12 month period.

Both are great companies, and it will be a tough decision either way.

Lone Palm

Don't commute, you'll thank yourself later.

whiskeycharlie

Any chance you'd like to supply a Skywest gouge?

Lifeisgood

Go to SkyWest and don't ever count on any projected hiring anywhere.

Get comfortable with flying as a hobby with no commute and start business on the side to make money. You will be the happiest guy ever.

FLowpayFO

Go to Skywest. Eagle is too unpredictable when it comes to staffing anything near the west coast, and plus when you upgrade at Skywest, at least you have a handful of West Coast bases to choose from when its time to upgrade vs. going to JFK/LGA or even SJU.

Neither company is perfect, they both pay like garbage as an FO, but in the end this is how I summarize it...

American Eagle:

- is possibly being sold off, who knows what will happen, union involved or not.

- Majority of flying is done on the East Coast. (I'm an EGL, and a west coaster, not fun).

- You could be based in LGA, JFK, SJU, MIA, who knows. And if you did land on the rock, try commuting to SJU from LAX, it doew not work in favor to your health.

SkyWEST:

- Pay is better

- Solid company that keeps growing and has millions of dollars in cash reserves (so I hear).

- Feeds for the two largest airlines in the world, and did I mention it has the word WEST in the name?

- If you had to commute, at least all the bases are within a 4 hour commute.

-Oh and the bonus, better travel benefits!


My friends at SKYW seem happy as a fat pig, my EGL friends its 50/50. And with Eagle if you commute, and get a seat in the back of an AA flight, you pay, which can add up to $60 round trip if First is the only seat available. So on top of spending around $2500 a year on crashpads, all the little costs add up to commuting which won't make it worth the headache.

Good luck.

Mason32

Go to the one that fly's under their own name.... with their own name in large letters, and not some little tiny statement someplace on the frame saying "operated by." Skywest is just another great impersonator.

pilotrob23

and if scope goes through at united, well, lol. Giving you grief. Buddies at both that love it. Either way, you should enjoy. Good luck

Mason32

That is one of the better posting in this thread... if you can do Skywest with no commuting, then that is a game changer.