Best Regional?
 

I know it's probably a silly question but if you had to pick a regional to fly for what would it be and why? This is actually a serious question that some insight would be great to have. It's being asked by quite a few transitioning mil guys that have about 2000-2500 hours with no 121 time. Reading each post for the individual companies it seems they all suck. So maybe the question should be which sucks the least and why? Thanks in advance.

With all things considered, PSA.

Whichever will allow you to be based at home or near home. QOL is the most important thing when picking a regional IMO. Wouldn't chase a quick upgrade bc that can change at the drop of a hat. That's just my two cents.

Comair followed closely by Mesaba.

Ask a guy named "RJ Pilot" - he'll tell you.

Incidentally, he is ALSO a GV captain!!! Seriously, go ask him. He currently is on a trip to an airport that closed a while ago.

Good luck.

If you are a mil GV AC with 2k+ time don't play around in the regionals. Certainly not one with a training contract. At least go to a LCC to get your 121 time before going to the big 3+1. Or get a GV job. If you are set on slumming with us here just live in base since you won't be here long. Commuting is horrible.

No such thing as "best regional" They all suck!!!
What's important to you???

Being based at home? Choose that one

Want career progression, well maybe Compass, TSA and PSA. I say maybe because this industry is changing so fast that who knows if they will continue to hire at a rate that will make you a Capt. in the shortest amount of time. Will PSA still get all of those Envoy planes now that Envoy agreed to a TA? It's all a gamble.

Want the most money year 1? Many regionals now pay hiring bonuses and Endeavor now claims to be the highest paying first year at approx. 40k with the retention bonus year 1 and 2.

Bottom line, they all equally suck, pick the one that sucks the least for you.

Apply to PSA today and see how that "career progression" works out for you... As of today any new classes have missed the proverbial boat, PSA has already hired their last quick upgrade. Still potential at TSA and maybe even Compass. Air Wisconsin has the best contract by far.

Southwest obviously

Hahaha.....

12 month upgrades are expected at PSA for at least the next 18 months and will last longer if the rumors for even more 900s are true. Anyone hired in 2015 will have a bunch of movement, same goes for Compass and TSA.

Republic has NO American flight benefits
 

I am signing in to this board for the first time since 2010, according to the info on the upper right corner.

I want ANYONE thinking of applying to Republic to know something important:

If you get placed in Chicago or Miami on the Republic certificate, you will have NO flight benefits.

If the recruiter denies this fact, ask her if she has American flight benefits. She will say yes. Ask her for a favor....ask her to look up the load for a flight from where she is in IND to MIA and to tell you how many open seats there are on that flight. She will not be able to do it.

Why?

They allow us to buy a ZED on American flights (including our own planes) and call that flight benefits. A ZED fare is a basic privilege that allows you to travel on the absolute lowest priority category on non-revenue travel. It allows you to be able to afford to fly to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific if there is a seat open.

There is an enormous difference between a ZED fare, and being able to check loads and list yourself in Jetnet on the plane you just flew in that is continuing to your home city.

There will also be no new tentative agreement.

In this country, corporations get what corporations want.
The fact of the matter is, our CEO wants to maintain the status-quo. He does not want to spend more money on us. He will continue to park planes and blame the weather for cancellations for as long as possible until he can escape with his very handsome golden parachute that you should look up if you have a chance.

He is a fantastic liar and can go on national TV on a show called "undercover boss" to promise the employees he worked with (at Frontier) the moon, and then lay them all off within 2 years.

Frontier Airlines to lay off hundreds of workers nationwide | News - Home

They will even cheat you on your paycheck.

Don't fall for the lies that are part of the culture here at Republic.

Spin it however you want to spin it, the quick upgrades are already on property... that is a mathematical fact.

I recently retired from the USAF and had currency/recency issues. I chose ExpressJet because they have a domicile that I can drive to and sit reserve at home. Don't worry about upgrade time and to a lesser extent, don't worry about pay too much. You will not see upgrade at a regional or LCC. I'm assuming you just want to get some 121 experience and stay current. Go where it is the least painful to you and your family for the commute. Some airlines have a "bonus" which simply means they want you to stay for a while. I would avoid those, however I know of a buddy who went to a LCC that had a training bond that they don't really pursue. My advice would be to go where you can complete your training quickly and tolerate the commute the best. Good luck!

That's the way AA treat their no wholly owned regionals. It goes by AAG employees, the AAG extended family and friends (d3, body pass, however you want to call it), then RAH employees.

The only benefit is that RAH JS goes by RAH pilots first, then everybody else in arriving order.

Well... They have told us that they currently have around 900 pilots on property and about 700 to 750 active at any given time (pilots not in training, on sick leave, or on military duty). And they plan to have a pilot group of about 1400 to 1500 active pilots and a fleet of around 140 to 150 airframes. Guy in the PSA thread said he is going about 15 to 20 slots up in seniority every month so there is attrition off the top and out of the middle too. You know, mathematical facts and all...

Choose a regional based on QOL/growth/contract. You want to enjoy your time at a regional as much as possible so living in base or an easy commute is key. An airline that has growth or attrition or both is good so you don't stagnate. And one with a decent contract that will help you out in the soft pay. Those are how I would choose a regional.

This is true even on own metal - An AAG employee (AA/Envoy/PSA/PDT) has cabin priority over RAH employee, and officially RAH employees are not allowed to sit in first class regardless of carrier - but what happens on the airplane stays on the airplane.

If you want to do the math, be sure you are asking the right questions -
YOU (whoever you get hired on with) cannot upgrade until at least 40% of the list has been hired in after you.
If you can see the quick upgrade, you have probably missed it.

Example: If when you get hired at XYZ, they project growing to 1500 pilots on property, they will have to hire at at least 600 more behind you before you can upgrade. You cannot work in the left seat without someone in the right. And once the word gets around that the quick upgrade has played out, what is the draw to get the meat in the seats? What gets the 600 below you in the door? There are not that many new entrants to the industry. What will get pilots to jump from ABC to XYZ? There is a reason this career is often likened to a Ponzi scheme.

I know, I know. This time is different.

To the OP: ACA or Skyway, definitely.

Very very well said!!! I often wonder how people overlook this fact, when there's no longer an upgrade to be had mathematically, the flow of new-hires stops in this climate. So many current 4, 5, 7 year FOs leave their current employers taking a paycut for the first few years to occupy the right seat there too.

Where do you live?
Envoy used to be good but schedules lately have gone down hill.
To many variables to say which is best but I would steer clear of the bottom feeding regionals.

One should go into a regional with the plan of getting out as soon as possible. If that means PIC time, plan accordingly.

Right, so 1400-1500 pilots means PSA will need 700-750 captains, the amount of pilots you already have on property. All growth captains aka "quick upgrades" have already been hired. Any upgrades after that will be due to attrition only.

Anyone hired today will undoubtedly see a lot of movement and a quick rise to senior FO, but not a quick upgrade.

It sounds like the only quick upgrades will be at TSA or Compass. Although, I've heard that unless your on property in the next few months at TSA, you've probably missed the train...

Good point, but a lot of FO's are getting picked up elsewhere.. New hires are getting current and moving on or get hired just to wait to hear back from Delta or the like. That will only increase throughout the coming years.

Your math is correct, sort of. That would be absolutely true if there is no attrition. However, with 15-20 a month (which is what is expected per month for the next year), that would mean that someone hired today would be at about 50% up the seniority list in one year.

If you are hired today, your seniority number would be ~1000, with ~800 active pilots. Attrition of 15 per month, you would move up 180 in the first year. That would put you around the 600 mark. Also, with ~25 people per class finishing training every two weeks and hitting the line, that would mean in that year, you would have 600 pilots behind you.

As long as the classes stay full, people hired today will upgrade in well under 24 months.

Also, once the flow/ssp/whatever you want to call it increases this summer, the number leaving each month will increase even more. This increase has already been increased, and is supposed to be 10% of the pilot base each year. During the initial negotiations, it was 48 per year, as the pilot group was about 480 people. With a pilot group of 1000 now, it should be 100 per year.

I would expect the attrition numbers to stabilize at 18-20 per month, with an occasional high of 30.

How difficult would it be to commute from Central Florida area to a regional like PSA? I am new to this Part 121 business and am trying to figure out how that will work when you are on reserve for probably the 1st year. Seems like it would be a nightmare considering the the closet domicile is CLT for me. The only regional that has a base in Florida is Silver Airways and I don't hear alot of great things about them. I guess Florida is not the state to live in if you are a regional pilot.

Can anyone giving me an idea of what a normal day would be like for someone like me to have to commute that far? Are you on reserve for consecutive days or will they give you a day off in between which would really stink because it wouldn't make sense to commute home only to have to come back the next day.

Thanks for the response and question. After reading most of the posts it seems they are all similar with some differences but living in base is a must.

I will be moving back to Florida in August. West coast specifically.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Definitely have helped narrow it down to living in base as a first priority. PIC time is not really a concern but more just keeping current and getting some 121 time.

I think I should have done a bit more research (ok, that is an understatement because I only searched crew bases and then hit the submit button on apps!) about these companies.

I submitted my app last night for several companies, this morning I got a call from Republic asking me to verify my hours and then an invitation to interview at HQ. It sounds like I should disconnect my phone and run?

If you are close to Orlando or Daytona then it shouldn't be hard at all. Myself and others commute/will commute out of JAX and it isn't a problem. Plenty of departures to CLT all day. Schedules seem to vary, but you will move up in seniority relatively quick (compared to many regionals) and I would expect anywhere from 4 to maybe 6 months in reserve by the time you potentially get off IOE.

It seems very few regionals have bases in the vicinity of Tampa or Orlando. That leaves commuting so trying to decide which regional would be the easiest to commute to.

Yeah, I am finding that out. I live about an hour from Orlando and 45 minutes from Gainesville so the drive wouldn't be to bad. When you are on reserve do they try to keep them consecutive days or whatever works with their schedule? Not to excited about spending a day or two in Charlotte waiting for my next day of work because it doesn't make sense to retunr home.

The reserve lines are built as consecutive days. Usually 5 days on and 2-4 days off. 11 days off per month. Short call is 2 hours and long call is 12 hours. You can trade reserve days around based on coverage. The reserves lines are either morning shift starting at 5am or afternoon starting at 11am. 13 hour RAP

I was literally in both of your shoes just a few months ago. I primarily chose PSA because of most of the regionals around, CLT is a relatively easy domicile to commute to. RAH is opening a MIA base but I don't know much about that and I personally wouldn't go there right now. But to each their own.

Unless you can live in base at republic, don't go there. You will regret your decision within a month of getting online.

Sigh... With the new American travel bennies, there is an advantage to working at a wholly owned.

Thanks for the information. This helps to understand how the reserve system works.

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Originally Posted by CBreezy (Post 1798777)

Comair followed closely by Mesaba.

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2004 just called..... For me it's simple, work where you live, so of course I chose Simmons ;)

Go to whoever is growing. At the moment that is Mesa and Trans States. The right seat is no place to be for years and years.