Line Holders Advice
 

Hi Guys,

I've completed my interviews and I am happy to say I was offered employment by several and narrowed it down to 2. I live in the NY metro area and am strongly hoping for an EWR/PHL/LGA base. The recruiters from each made it sound like their company was the best in the industry, and I'll admit, each had their high share of plus's and some negatives. However, I would like to get the opinion or advice of some line holders that aren't actively involved in the recruiting or interviewing process. The 2 companies are CommutAir and Republic, I would be extremely grateful if anyone could share their preference on either and why. Thank you very much for your time.

CommutAir. Their new contract is impressive for what they fly and you will get TPIC time within 2 years if you fly your butt off. Only bad point is the Dash get hot in the summer time. Have to pay your dues somehow..

CommutAir would probably provide quicker upgrade and better QOL. If I were in your shoes id go there.

I'm with the previous posters. When I applied to the regionals Republic was one of the few companies I had no interest in applying to due to them not having cancellation pay. I can't even imagine being based in NYC or ORD in the winter with no cancellation pay. I'm ORD based and have at least one turn every trip in the winter cancel. Their FO pay scale is also the worst out of any airline for the E170/5 (although their captain pay scale is much better). First year Commutair pay is almost on par with 8th year RAH 170 pay. Of the two companies you listed I would personally pick Commutair if it were me.

CommutAir !!

Well RAH caps FOs at 4 years....so an 8 year FO scale doesn't exist just yet. RAH artificially inflates their year 1 FO pay with a bonus paid in two installments. For the Q400 its $10k with a base in EWR. Which means your 2nd year you won't get a raise, or at least it will be smaller than what's on paper. But your second year you'll get an E175 that will have replaced all the Qs in EWR. As of right now the Ejets in the right seat are only good for one thing as far as career advancement and that's fulfilling Emirates greater than 30 tonnes limitation lol. CommutAir did get some great new contract additions. Pick your poison!

The first year pay at RAH isn't my problem. Actually the RAH is about on par for every regionals' first year pay. Who honestly cares about how great first year pay is when we're looking at a career that lasts you until age 65? Longevity pay should be the major factor in someone's decision.

My issue with RAH pay is their $37/hour cap for the E175 with no cancellation pay. That pay scale is just insulting. There are multiple regionals where you can make more on 2nd year pay than you can on the RAH top out (for flying SMALLER planes in most cases).

Examples: Skywest 2nd year Brasilia and CRJ 200 pay $37.15/hour with cancellation pay. Expressjet 2nd year is $34/hour for the E145 with cancellation pay. Compass 2nd year is $36/hour for the E170. Commutair 2nd year is $32/hour for the dash with cancellation pay.

Topping out at $37/hour on the E175 at year 4 with no cancellation pay in all East coast bases in the winter is just awful compared to almost every other regional.

Im EWR based with Commutair and life isn't too bad as a line holder. You likely wont see year 3 pay for very long as an FO with the current attrition.

I couldn't imagine being based in the NY area without cancellation pay. Without cancellation pay, I would have probably lost thousands over this last winter.

Rcfd13...not gonna argue with ya brah...RAH is due for a new contract...7 years and counting. The game is guessing where RAH ends up after thats done. RAH is built on the premise that they always will have to expand. If they don't their costs will catch up to them especially on the MX side of the operation. If Bedford wants to keep his growth plans intact he will have to start paying people. He has said it himself, the first regional to adopt a higher paying model will win the day in the end. We will see if he stands by that at the negotiating table. Then the question will be would you rather go to a regional that pays well and has great work rules or go to a PSA or PDT that have some kind of flow to mainline

A lot of regionals bank on the fact that prospective FOs look at nothing but first year pay. In my own career I've found that to be true. I've blown a few of my friends minds when I tell them what I made on 2nd year pay because none of them looked beyond what each regional paid first year. BB and the rest of the regionals' management know this and have started offering signing bonuses to ease first year pay without raising pay for any other pilots because they've found that no one cares about their 2nd year pay. It will work too because the majority of prospective pilots won't look beyond one year into the future.

The attractiveness of places like PSA and PDT isn't in the flow through. It's in their prospective upgrade times. Endeavor has the flow through program and still can't attract new hires because of their non-existent upgrade. People will only go to PSA and PDT with their subpar contracts as long as they can get on the captain pay scale quick and build TPIC quick to get out. If upgrade times at either of those two companies skyrocket no one will go there.