RAH interview
 

Hey everyone just got an inteview with RAH in two weeks. I haven't heard much optimism about RAH in a while, so my question: Is it even worth doing the inteview? Any insight is appreciated...

1650 TT
800 turbine (Saab340) (Mesaba)
Reside in NY

With your previous experience, I'd wager that you might not need the interview practice, but if you'd like to bust some rust, go for it.

Actually accepting an offer, however, is another matter. I'd recommend doing so only as a last resort..in the last few weeks, RJET has turned in a cluster****** of epic proportions. Most pilots, including many people who until recently considered themselves lifers, are looking to bail as soon as possible. We have people with enough seniority to hold a captain's seat bailing for other regionals.

Now, I do have to say that living within driving distance of LGA/EWR/JFK is one of the better situations at Republic.

Sqwkvfr is right. We've recently had a 2007 DOH FO leave for Compass. Another 2008 DOH FO leave for Piedmont. Many others with similar seniority bypass the upgrade here and go to TSA where they will be a part time Captain..so to speak.

Reside in NY is huge but question is where? If you can reasonably drive to LGA then this place becomes tolerable from time to time. If you have to commute from somewhere like Buffalo or Rochester you living in NY really makes no difference. Still a commute....still will need a crashpad with our pairings....miserable.

Despite what the company will tell you at the interview there was zero interest shown by the company regarding renewed negotiations between the rejected TA(March 2014) and early November.....8 whole months of "oh well, we tried" attitude while simultaneously preaching some BS "culture change". Meanwhile, the company has met with our NC 15 or 16 times for 6 and 7 hours a day since November and have somehow managed to TA 3 whole freaking articles of check airmen, miscellaneous flying(?) and uniforms. Haha!! Yeah...really shows you how interested the company is in restoring trust in management and changing the culture and actually compensating their employees properly. Just wait until negotiations gets to the truly important articles like pay, scheduling, reserves, etc...we'll have that new contract in no time. What benefits the company more?....ponying up the dough for people that are already on property or sweetening the pot for a potential new hire in the form of a $10-15,000 one time signing bonus that they get a tax break on? Therein lies the answer just how truly close we are to the company playing ball and us reaching an acceptable labor contract.

I would suggest Eagle since they have a NY base and at least have an alleged flow...their concessionary contract is still better than ours. But if you do choose to come here, get ready for a long upgrade wait if you get stuck(lot of lifers going no where, very senior pilot group) and bringing home around 2100-2400 every month for the foreseeable future once you are past first year pay(whopping 22.95/hr)....pay doesnt increase much after that initial bump. Good pilot group, lot of good people here that are fun to fly with. Living in base is the difference between night and day in my opinion...even at a place like RAH.

I was one of those that that left 2.8 years in (I would have upgraded maybe in 2 years, so roughly 5 year upgrade, but that was super optimistic)

I came to TSA for the CQFO program and I'm in the first class and they tell us that they really don't plan on flying us right seat (so much in fact that they told us not to focus on FO flows but to just know of them)

I was a commuter at Shuttle America...and life was for the most part miserable, I held weekends off and made just over 40K on 3rd year (i tried to fly the least amount, zero motivation to help them) I would have made 45-48 if I really wanted to. Getting called at 4am on your day off to see if you want to pick up some flying was super fun...especially since there is no soft pay.

Terrible contract
Terrible work rules
Terrible schedules
Terrible Management/pilot cohesion

Fun airplane

if you have no other choice than try to live in base...you will still want to kill puppies but just not as many.

my advice: go to Compass, PSA, TSA, or at least Mesa

What is the difference between Shuttle and Republic? I have read all of the info on how bad RAH is, but I live at one of the bases and therefore it's the best of the worst evils.
I'm interested in the differences of the two so I can make the decision when hired.
Thanks

Not a huge difference between certificates, other than longer flights and different bases at S5. Some S5 guys will argue that they have friendlier training/chief pilots, but it's all shades of grey to me.

Near-term plan is to get down to one certificate.

With that said, DO NOT ASSUME YOU CAN CHANGE CERTIFICATES AS AN FO!!!!

The current CBA does not allow changing certificates until you upgrade. With how long it takes us to implement things (7+ years into our EFB program), do not assume that cert consolidation will happen soon. It is also dependent on some scope changes with our mainline partners.

If EWR/LGA/JFK are in your future, we are supposed to have a decision on which certificate the 50 United E175s are going to by the end of January.

As a new hire, I would go where the new planes are going. If those United birds go to YX (Republic), you could end up on indefinite reserve at S5 (shuttle). If you don't have that long to make a decision, S5 is the only one that will guarantee a New York base (barring base closure or loss of flying). YX does not have any E170 NYC bases, but if the E175s come here, then EWR will be huge.

I agree with the above post except for the last comment in regards to who get the a/c.

You are one list, it truly doesn't matter. They will pull from all 3 to upgrade. When on Shuttle, I moved up no faster than anyone on the Republic cert when they were getting the new AA flying. It will have a very small on effect on how staffing effects certain bases...(i.e. some bases such as PHL on Republic's side or LGA on Shuttle side will feel like there is more growth because FO's will bid to the new bases)


other than a few operational differences...almost identical airlines

again I reiterate....my advice is to stay away...they are in a massive staffing issue

(rumor from my buddies still there...they want to expedite the parking of the 145's to staff the flying or they will have to park some 170's because they just can't staff them.)

Couldn't you go back to Endeavor? I had heard they were letting past employees return and keep their original DOH for longevity but not seniority. Couple that with a Jr NYC base, 30k in bonuses over the next two years and an interview at Delta, it sounds like it wouldn't be a bad option for you.

If that base happens to be an outstation, you'd have a better quality of life commuting to another regional. Republic does everything it possibly can to make outstation schedules suck as much as possible...that, along with making the lives of crew members miserable are a two things that RAH actually does well.

If it's a hub, I'd normally recommend Shuttle, but the company wants all of the UAL flying to be on the Republic certificate, making it entirely feasible that some Shuttle bases may not be long for this world.

There are just too many uncertainties to predict what's going to happen at RAH. I'd strongly recommend staying away.

Why would anyone go to RAH, when everyone is hiring? Hope you like being abused, because you will be. If you believe anything senior managements says, you will be disappointed. Go to Eagle if you want a NYC base.