|
When I was in your shoes 8 years ago i had a very smart professor tell me this during a long conversation.
"This is a very funny industry, you are going to have friends that go one place and upgrade very quickly. You will have friends that get furloughed. You will have friends that go to a company that shuts down or in this day gets purchased, merged, torn apart, etc. Go to every interview you can get. Why? Well you don't have any decisions to make until you have an offer in front of you. This also allows you to get a lot of very valuable interviewing experience. So then which one do I choose? The one that offers you a class first. You live and due by your seniority number." I know some of that conversation is out dated but I believe it has some very valuable lessons for everyone coming into this industry. So my advice, go to as many interviews. Get a feel for each company and make a decision from there. Here is how I see some of your choices. PSA - Growing at the expense of other companies. We will see if they actually get all the jets they say they are getting. If I had a dollar for every time I heard "we are getting X amount of jets" I wouldn't be in this business anymore. They have a quick upgrade right now which is good. They have a interview program that has about a 98% success rate. To my knowledge of those successful they move 48 to American per year (4 per month). Mesa - I don't know a whole lot about them, just their reputation precedes them. TSA - Growing at the expense of another company. They have a CQFO program that won't do you any good as you will not have the time to be a part of that program. They are owned by ruthless people. Do your Go Jet research and see how that whole thing worked out for TSA. Compass - Griwing from pure growth, not taking any airplanes that are at other companies. They have many pilots that are flowing to Delta creating guaranteed movement. Once that is over well that is the wild card as to what happens as far as upgrades. The company is good, the people are good and there is a lot of 121 experience there. That meaning most if the pilots there compass wasn't their first rodeo. Endeavor - Shrinking to a point then what? Who knows what is going to happen there once they get down to 81 900s. What is known about them is they have the most movement to Delta than any other carrier in the world. They will send 144 guys to Delta next year and those numbers keep going up in the following years. They just signed a deal making them the highest paid first two years in the industry. They have a fantastic training department, regarded as one of the best in the industry. If they can hire I would say the sky is the limit and you can expect not to be an FO after year two. Most of the bad press Endeavor gets is from former employees that just relay information from their negative friends here. With all that being said, there are a lot of choices out there. Take what you read with a grain of salt. Again take as many interviews as you gan get and go get a real feel for the company when you are there. When you are traveling to the interview ask their employees questions and really get the temperature of the employee group. Good luck with your career. It is an exciting time to be joining this profession. |
Originally Posted by Sturbmaster
(Post 1783174)
When I was in your shoes 8 years ago i had a very smart professor tell me this during a long conversation.
"This is a very funny industry, you are going to have friends that go one place and upgrade very quickly. You will have friends that get furloughed. You will have friends that go to a company that shuts down or in this day gets purchased, merged, torn apart, etc. Go to every interview you can get. Why? Well you don't have any decisions to make until you have an offer in front of you. This also allows you to get a lot of very valuable interviewing experience. So then which one do I choose? The one that offers you a class first. You live and due by your seniority. Good luck with your career. It is an exciting time to be joining this profession. |
Originally Posted by CBreezy
(Post 1783052)
Can I ask why we are actually taking this thread seriously? If every single prospective FO across the country came on here and asked, "hey dudz, which airline is the best" in a separate thread, the first 15 pages of the regional thread would be us trying to pull out of a new poster what they want.
Here's an idea, take a few weeks and do some real research, like college taught you how. Read threads, read news articles, look at the APC regional/national pages for bases. THEN, once you narrow down a list, post in the airline pages and ask specific questions. |
Originally Posted by CBreezy
(Post 1783036)
I'd like to thank you for taking the time to post your question here. You've clearly done your research, judged primarily by the incredibly detailed question you asked. It wasn't vague at all. So, I'll advise you on the best possible choices.
1) Great Lakes 3) Comair 4) California Pacific 5) Atlantic Coast Airlines |
Originally Posted by Sturbmaster
(Post 1783174)
When I was in your shoes 8 years ago i had a very smart professor tell me this during a long conversation.
"This is a very funny industry, you are going to have friends that go one place and upgrade very quickly. You will have friends that get furloughed. You will have friends that go to a company that shuts down or in this day gets purchased, merged, torn apart, etc. Go to every interview you can get. Why? Well you don't have any decisions to make until you have an offer in front of you. This also allows you to get a lot of very valuable interviewing experience. So then which one do I choose? The one that offers you a class first. You live and due by your seniority number." I know some of that conversation is out dated but I believe it has some very valuable lessons for everyone coming into this industry. So my advice, go to as many interviews. Get a feel for each company and make a decision from there. Here is how I see some of your choices. PSA - Growing at the expense of other companies. We will see if they actually get all the jets they say they are getting. If I had a dollar for every time I heard "we are getting X amount of jets" I wouldn't be in this business anymore. They have a quick upgrade right now which is good. They have a interview program that has about a 98% success rate. To my knowledge of those successful they move 48 to American per year (4 per month). Mesa - I don't know a whole lot about them, just their reputation precedes them. TSA - Growing at the expense of another company. They have a CQFO program that won't do you any good as you will not have the time to be a part of that program. They are owned by ruthless people. Do your Go Jet research and see how that whole thing worked out for TSA. Compass - Griwing from pure growth, not taking any airplanes that are at other companies. They have many pilots that are flowing to Delta creating guaranteed movement. Once that is over well that is the wild card as to what happens as far as upgrades. The company is good, the people are good and there is a lot of 121 experience there. That meaning most if the pilots there compass wasn't their first rodeo. Endeavor - Shrinking to a point then what? Who knows what is going to happen there once they get down to 81 900s. What is known about them is they have the most movement to Delta than any other carrier in the world. They will send 144 guys to Delta next year and those numbers keep going up in the following years. They just signed a deal making them the highest paid first two years in the industry. They have a fantastic training department, regarded as one of the best in the industry. If they can hire I would say the sky is the limit and you can expect not to be an FO after year two. Most of the bad press Endeavor gets is from former employees that just relay information from their negative friends here. With all that being said, there are a lot of choices out there. Take what you read with a grain of salt. Again take as many interviews as you gan get and go get a real feel for the company when you are there. When you are traveling to the interview ask their employees questions and really get the temperature of the employee group. Good luck with your career. It is an exciting time to be joining this profession. Everything thing above has been stated before. Interview everywhere. Get job offers. Then make decision. Period. It is extremely presumptuous to narrow your options prior to even getting called/invited to an interview. No one is THAT good... |
Originally Posted by Sturbmaster
(Post 1783174)
When I was in your shoes 8 years ago i had a very smart professor tell me this during a long conversation.
"This is a very funny industry, you are going to have friends that go one place and upgrade very quickly. You will have friends that get furloughed. You will have friends that go to a company that shuts down or in this day gets purchased, merged, torn apart, etc. Go to every interview you can get. Why? Well you don't have any decisions to make until you have an offer in front of you. This also allows you to get a lot of very valuable interviewing experience. So then which one do I choose? The one that offers you a class first. You live and due by your seniority number." I know some of that conversation is out dated but I believe it has some very valuable lessons for everyone coming into this industry. So my advice, go to as many interviews. Get a feel for each company and make a decision from there. Here is how I see some of your choices. PSA - Growing at the expense of other companies. We will see if they actually get all the jets they say they are getting. If I had a dollar for every time I heard "we are getting X amount of jets" I wouldn't be in this business anymore. They have a quick upgrade right now which is good. They have a interview program that has about a 98% success rate. To my knowledge of those successful they move 48 to American per year (4 per month). Mesa - I don't know a whole lot about them, just their reputation precedes them. TSA - Growing at the expense of another company. They have a CQFO program that won't do you any good as you will not have the time to be a part of that program. They are owned by ruthless people. Do your Go Jet research and see how that whole thing worked out for TSA. Compass - Griwing from pure growth, not taking any airplanes that are at other companies. They have many pilots that are flowing to Delta creating guaranteed movement. Once that is over well that is the wild card as to what happens as far as upgrades. The company is good, the people are good and there is a lot of 121 experience there. That meaning most if the pilots there compass wasn't their first rodeo. Endeavor - Shrinking to a point then what? Who knows what is going to happen there once they get down to 81 900s. What is known about them is they have the most movement to Delta than any other carrier in the world. They will send 144 guys to Delta next year and those numbers keep going up in the following years. They just signed a deal making them the highest paid first two years in the industry. They have a fantastic training department, regarded as one of the best in the industry. If they can hire I would say the sky is the limit and you can expect not to be an FO after year two. Most of the bad press Endeavor gets is from former employees that just relay information from their negative friends here. With all that being said, there are a lot of choices out there. Take what you read with a grain of salt. Again take as many interviews as you gan get and go get a real feel for the company when you are there. When you are traveling to the interview ask their employees questions and really get the temperature of the employee group. Good luck with your career. It is an exciting time to be joining this profession. Compass is also owned by Trans States Holdings, the same company that brought you GoJet, yet you say nothing about how bad that company is. In fact, their DO is the same guy who was responsible for a lot of the poor treatment most TSA pilots complained about in the mid-2000s. They are also growing at the "expense" of another pilot group. Technically, the E-175 aircraft were the ones promised Eagle pilots in bankruptcy, yet you don't mention that. The airplanes TSA is getting are ones that were slated to be parked. To group TSA in the same group of PSA over-simplifies the situation. Technically, anytime a regional airline grows, it is at the expense of someone, whether it is a major airline or another regional. This is why these threads are worthless. Your advice, while good intentioned, is bad. |
I am going to be getting my commercial and flight instructor ratings within the next month and a half. With the pipeline program that Envoy has, would it be wise with Envoy's potential new TA to try to get on board with them soon? Or still wise to hold out and wait till I'm closer to the 1500 hours and go for the best option at that time?
Disclaimer: Will be living in Dallas for the next 5 years probably so that is why Envoy is definitely an option for me. Thanks! |
Originally Posted by CBreezy
(Post 1783202)
Your editorialization dilutes your facts.
Compass is also owned by Trans States Holdings, the same company that brought you GoJet, yet you say nothing about how bad that company is. In fact, their DO is the same guy who was responsible for a lot of the poor treatment most TSA pilots complained about in the mid-2000s. They are also growing at the "expense" of another pilot group. Technically, the E-175 aircraft were the ones promised Eagle pilots in bankruptcy, yet you don't mention that. The airplanes TSA is getting are ones that were slated to be parked. To group TSA in the same group of PSA over-simplifies the situation. Technically, anytime a regional airline grows, it is at the expense of someone, whether it is a major airline or another regional. This is why these threads are worthless. Your advice, while good intentioned, is bad. Just a few follow up questions for you. How many CRJ-700s does Eagle have? How many E175s? See my point Eagle doesn't have any E-175s so how is CZ taking their planes when they don't have any? |
Originally Posted by Sturbmaster
(Post 1783225)
All good points, sir.
Just a few follow up questions for you. How many CRJ-700s does Eagle have? How many E175s? See my point Eagle doesn't have any E-175s so how is CZ taking their planes when they don't have any? AA: If you sign this contract, we'll give you Ejets. AE: Ok. AA: Okay, if you don't sign another concessionary contract, we'll give those Ejets we promised to Compass. AE: No AA: Okay, Compass, here are those airplanes we promised Eagle. Since Eagle is owned by American and American promised them airplanes, it is a different situation than other sub-contractors. I don't think Compass "took" anyone's flying as much as I don't think TSA did. PSA? Well, we know they took a weak contract with promises of airplanes with full knowledge that they were being leveraged against the Eagle pilot group. Again, that's why your simplification doesn't tell the whole story and makes your summaries inaccurate. My original point stands. |
If you want to live on the west coast go with:
SkyWest, Horizon, or Compass (but SkyWest and Horizon will have a longer sit on reserve and a longer upgrade than some of the other regionals right now. And many people have had a hard time even getting a call interview from a compass without prior 121 time). If you want to live on the east coast go with: Too many to list. Many are hiring and have future growth and fleet plans. Some are shrinking and their future is questionable at best. Asking a forum full of pilots which airline you should choose is like asking a room full of 3rd graders which flavor ice cream is their favorite... You are going to get a lot of different answers for different reasons. I chose my airline because I own a house and have a family and my domicile will be a relatively easy commute from home. Others choose airlines based on quick upgrade, quality of contract, pay, etc... There are a million different reasons. Figure out what you want and take your pick. It seems they are all hiring for the foreseeable future. |
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:55 AM. |
Website Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands