Regional schedule and time on reserve
 

Guys,

A few questions, would appreciate your opinions.

I am a CFI close to ATP mins thinking of applying to the regionals. When a new hire finally gets a line, could you change around trips to maybe have 6 or 7 days ON in a row in order to get four or five days OFF in a row during the month?

Since hiring picked up, how long are new hires on reserve these days before they get a line? Looking especially at Compass, Commutair, Skywest and PSA.

Have there been many CFIs getting on with Compass, even though their preferred minimums ask for Part 121 and FMS time?

Have there been many regional F/Os (t-prop or jet) that have moved on and been hired by the nationals and majors, or do they still hire regional captains only?

Last month I waved some restrictions and got 4 off- 11 on- 7 off - 11 on. The only way you can do it is with a bunch of 30 hour overnights, otherwise you can't be scheduled 7 days in a row. The amount of days off you get depends in base and carrier of course.

Regardless of what some people will say, 121 pic is important. I have several ins at a certain mainline carrier, and was told by the chief pilot that they won't look at me untill i upgrade and get some left seat time.

I know guys from my old flight school who with no 121 time went to compass, so it's possible

If I remember correctly, most jr line holder in lax is a late may hire meaning he only spent 1-2 months on reserve. What you are trying to do is definitely possible and there are many avenues to accomplish it (SAP, Tradeboard, etc). Feel free to pm me any other questions you may have.

This is a bit of a loaded question, because every airline does things slightly differently. Also, if a company has a senior base somewhere, reserve there may run years, but with all of the hiring, most new-hire FO's will not be on reserve too terribly long.

As for a string of days off or days on, once you learn to work the system, you can make this happen. The most effective method varies, but usually means backing up days off at the end of one month with days off at the beginning of another.

As for getting on with a national or a major, Allegiant, Spirit and JB have hired a lot of FO's with no TPIC time, but understand that the reason they do that is that they pretty much own you. You aren't getting hired at a legacy/SWA without it, so if you get to one of the above named and hate it, you may be stuck. The only exception is if you can get hired by one of the ACMI cargo carriers (Atlas, Southern) flying heavies. The international time can, but won't always, make up for the TPIC time. I can vouch for this, having seen a few in these circumstances make it to UA and DL.

If you want to move on quickly, skip SkyWest, as the upgrade time there is much longer than others.

If I had to commute out of Florida to NY, CHI or DC area, would you recommend doing that out of MCO, TPA or RSW?

I know living in base is a far better QOL, eventually I can do that, but for now I would have to commute like many other guys do.

I'm not saying that 121 pic isn't valuable, but people are gettig hired at legacy carriers with no 121 pic. That's the truth.

We could all come up with stories of no TPIC FO's getting hired at US Air and United in the last two years, but for the OP I would say go to a regional that fits for them and then in a couple of years put out apps to all major airlines...you will get hired.

As for CommutAir, you do have an option to work up to 6 days in a row, which many guys do, then have 3-4 days off in a row. Just remember, most regionals like CommutAir only have 11 days off per month while on reserve. That bumps up to 12 days off minimum for a line holder. Just remember while on reserve, if you happen to get a good stretch of days off, you'll have to pay the piper somewhere else in the month. CommutAir reserve is about 6 months right now before holding a line. Upgrades are running less than 2.5 years, and hopefully dropping due to all the captains we've been losing.

We have had a couple f/o's get hired on by other companies but it's all been charter. One guy got hired by Frontier but he had other experience before coming to CommutAir. As for captains, we've recently had them leave for United, Delta, US Airways, Spirit, Virgin America, and Frontier. TPIC is definitely a big deal.

When you have a line, are you still given a number of days reserve or are all the times scheduled trips and days off only?

When bidding for lines, what are the least desirable lines that go to the new hires for the most part.

Would it be number of consecutive days, weekends on, holidays on or other criteria like that? I guess I am asking how does the line bidding process work in a general sense.