So I'm reapplying in January after a six month wait after my first Skywest interview. What i'm looking for are skywest pilots to give me "life on the line" stories or advice or anything about working at Skywest. I've heard a lot from one of my friends out in SLC who's a FO on the RJ. But that's only one take on it. So i'm looking for more.
I've been waiting and prepping these last months and can't wait to get out there.

 

I'm an RJ FO based in TUS. I was only on reserve for less than a month off of IOE, and it was really not bad at all. I flew 60hrs, credited 90 (deadheads and ready reserve), and never got extended or had super-long days. My paychecks here have been bigger than my previous airline (despite $4 less an hour) because of superior work rules allowing much more credit and the fact that they don't charge for non-revving on the commute.

My lines since then have had at least 15 days off, even though they haven't credited more than 90hrs. I've gotten along really well with the captains I've flown with. Overall, a night and day difference from my previous employer.

 

can you elaborate on this?

 

While a lot of airlines charge you a yearly fee (Delta=$50) to non-rev, certain companies (AMR) charge you a fee per flight if you have less than X years seniority. This DOESN'T apply if you sit in the actual jumpseat, but their gate agents are trained to not give you a jumpseat pass unless there is no room in the back...i.e if there's room in the back, the agent is supposed to put you as a non-rev, and you're charged a service fee.

In commuting from SJU to Arizona, this worked out to close to $200 a month, and that usually was jumpseating half the time. It was $40 for SJU-DFW and $20 DFW-TUS if I didn't sit in the jump. Sometimes I got lucky and they'd give me a jumpseat pass with room in the back, but it was somewhat rare for gate agents to agree to that.

This was effective for all AMR flights, including Eagle. Nothing like paying $30 for MIA-BNA on your own airline.

 

Avi8r,
I didn't get the job last time I interviewed, in May. I talked with Camielle about 1 month before my six onths and things started rolling. With them excusively hiring to the jet now they wanted to put off the interview until they had a bro class. I insisted that I am ready to fly either of the a/c and I would just like to interview. I told here that I just wanted to do the interview and I can wait for a bro class, if needed. If there is a group interview close, go to it. Meet face to face and go into great detail about what you learned from the interview and how you bettered yourself.
I went to a group interview and the captain that I was talking with was excited and said that this shows that I really want to work for SkyWest. Hope this helps. I interview next week.

 

I'd hate to say it, but for the first time in my two years here it seems as if Skywest is slowly becoming not such a great place to work. We have no legally binding contract, so management can at will change any policies in the agreement which they have been doing lately. Examples: Any pilot who doesn't complete differences training between the CRJ 200/70/90 and is assigned an aircraft they are not qualified for will get their whole shift cancelled without pay. This was NOT part of our agreement, and mind you, management holds the cards as to when sim and class time will be available. Just recently we had our policy regarding pay for cancelled shifts "re-interpreted", and now it amounts to a whole lot less pay for cancelled legs as in the past (we don't get full cancellation pay anymore). Also, we got a whopping pay proposal of 1% just for the jet drivers. Compare this to the 6'ish % Expressjet got, and even American Eagle gets COLA each year of at least 1.5%. My bet is we will be somewhere near the bottom by the end of the decade, especially if this pay proposal passes. While our work rules might still be some of the best at the current time, they are slowly but surely being chipped away at.

 

What is the new policy????

 

You’re joking right? SKW is as good as they come. Yes I agree that the pay proposal that we are voting on is S@#T but even if we vote it down we are still making equal if not more that XJT pilots. Yes, XJT first year pay is $3 more than ours but the rest of their pay scale is equal to, if not less because of our credits and bonuses. They needed that 6% just to bring themselves up to our pay scale.

As far as the cancellation policy is concerned, what's wrong? You get the higher of the two: what you were originally scheduled for vs. what you were reflowed or actually flew. AND this works on two different scales. 1. If the entire day was cancelled then you get the entire days credit. 2. If only 2 legs were cancelled then you get block or better for the legs that you flew and the credit for the legs you didn't. This is an awesome policy.

Ex. Last Wednesday 11/22/06:

Scheduled Day
..............BLOCK CREDIT
YUM-IPL.... :19.....:20
IPL-LAX....1:03.....:59
LAX-SAN....:58.....:43
SAN-LAX....:53.....:43
LAX-FAT...1:08...1:02
TOTALS....4:21...3:47

ACTAUL DAY
.................... BLOCK CREDIT Paid
YUM-IPL ..........:34.......:20.........:34
IPL-LAX............:52.......:59.........:59
LAX-SAN.....Cancelled....:43..........:43
SAN-LAX.....Cancelled....:43..........:43
LAX-FAT.........1:09.....1:09.........1:09
2 Repo ............:24.......:00..........:24
TOTALS..........2:35......3:47....... 4:32
(ALL FINALIZED)
When they cancelled we had to reposition out Bro to the remote for 1:30 hours then bring it back. We got paid for the repo and the flight. No bad with two cancelled flights. You say this sucks? Wake up!!!

When they cancelled we had to reposition out Bro to the remote for 1:30 hours then bring it back. We got paid for the repo and the flight. No bad with two cancelled flights. You say this sucks? Wake up!!!

 

So this must not have happened to you yet. The only cancellation pay now is the difference between flown and the trip gauruntee. Let's use your example:

Scheduled Day
..............BLOCK CREDIT
YUM-IPL :19 :20
IPL-LAX 1:03 :59
LAX-SAN :58 :43
SAN-LAX :53 :43
LAX-FAT 1:08 1:02
TOTALS 4:21 3:47

Under the new interpretation, pay value for the cancellation would be only to bring you up to the original gauruntee:

.................... BLOCK CREDIT Paid
YUM-IPL :34 :20 :34
IPL-LAX :52 :59 :59
LAX-SAN Cancelled
SAN-LAX Cancelled
LAX-FAT 1:09 1:09 1:09
2 Repo :24 :00 :24
TOTALS 2:35 3:47 3:47

In this case, the cancellation was for a total of 86 minutes. That would bring the original day to 3hrs, 6 minutes. To get to your original gauruntee of 3hrs, 47 minutes it would take an additional 41 minutes. So the cancellation pay would be 41minutes. You see the problem here? This is NOT the way it used to be. A more extreme example would include a round trip that got cancelled, like a SFO-RDM which credits like 4 hours. Then, it would not matter how much extra you flew or repo'd the entire day, you're still only going to get your original gauruntee. The old interpretation, yes, it was the best. But if you think this new one is as well, wake up and smell the coffee, it's not.

 

Mike, Amigo,
What pay would make you and others happy at SkyWest?