Is RAH really that bad?
 

First post here. Hi everyone!

I'm approaching ATP minimums, and thinking about applying with RAH. I'll be living in Indianapolis and it seems like that's going to be my best bet. Moving will not be a possibility for quite a while, so the only other option would be to commute.

I'm just looking for some opinions from you guys. Now, I've read all of the stories about how RAH has a terrible contract, long upgrades, etc. Is it really that bad? Would it be more beneficial for me to try to get on with someone else and deal with a commute to ORD or somewhere else? From everything I've heard, it seems like it'd probably be better to just deal with the negatives there and be able to live in base than have to commute. Anything else I should consider?

If you have to ask that question.....

Incoming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Put it this way you can go to Piedmont and fly worn out 30 year old Dash 8 and make more money.

Go to Trans States and get the quick upgrade. You'll lose thousands$$$ because of the lack of cancellation pay at RAH.

It would be much, much better if we had a different top management team. Very short sighted here. I could go into detail, but I'll spare you. PM me if you want more info.

I don't work for RAH, but for another bottom feeder. Even the worst contracts can be palatable if it is ABSOLUTELY necessary for you to live in base. Aside from that fact alone however, I personally would suggest you look elsewhere to regionals with growth and/or career progression paths to majors. In the end you have to do what is best for you and your situation. Welcome to the poop show that is the apc forums!

Is fat meat greasy?

If you're approaching ATP mins, you're probably not welcome at RAH. Per their CEO, Rev. Bedford, he wants to hire pilots with 350 hours, because they're easier to train and haven't had time to develop bad habits,......... like expecting contract negotiations to be completed in under 10 years.

If that's your only option to live in base, then go ahead and do it.

Commuting costs money....and it all adds up at the end of the month. I think it's all how you look at it....if your plan is to get in and get out asap, it doesn't matter who you go with....

RAH makes Mesa look pretty decent

Well he'll have a ton of pilots that developed bad habits since you have to have an ATP to get hired.

Take it from someone who's been there. When I was hired almost 8 years in 2007, being the oldest in my class, therefore having "seniority" in my class, I was "almost" assured I would get Indy as home base as it was a fairly easy drive for me to make once a week. (I live two hours to the north). When all was said and done, three days before training was complete, I resigned because among other things, I learned I was to be based in Buffalo. Try commuting from Buffalo to Chicago in a reasonable amount of time. Long upgrade times (they told us when hired upgrades were averaging 12-14 months). Okay, I know I'm going to get some flak, but, I know I made the right decision. I did not continue on in 121. So be it.

I'm at Mesa, I was at RAH.

Let's just say RAH makes Mesa feel like mainline.

Now that's saying a lot.

Said a bunch of 7 and 8 year FO's at some regionals, recently once upon a time.

Of course things are quite a bit different now ..... hopefully.

Are we talking Legacy airline mainline or Skywest mainline?

God I love this forum.

Don't be jelly because you failed out of RAH.

I know APC is your cathartic release but try not to be a douche.

Don't come here. Being a line holder doesn't matter, everyone is a reserve. I haven't done a four day trip that didn't get horribly reassigned in months. Call in fatigued and it counts as a sick call if the Company determines it wasn't their fault. They don't give a rats *** about safety. Had to refuse an aircraft for ferry a few days before Christmas because maintenance control didn't know the systems of the aircraft well enough to realize it wasn't safe to fly. Go somewhere else. Please.

Ouch!!! Maybe you guys need to start the whistle blowing. That's crazy!!

FaceBiter don't be a Pillowbiter! It's awful there!

when factoring upgrade for said 'getting out'....this is the dumbest thing said about anything...ever...

Yes I was wondering what the hell he was talking about. If you wanna get in and out then you better find the lowest upgrade time. Durrrrr

The lowest upgrade time can change on a dime. When I went to RAH it was a 14 month upgrade...7 years later I finally upgraded.....glad to have escaped that place now, wishing the same for everyone else there. RAH has a great pilot group, but management makes that place unbearable.

That doesn't even make sense... I was there a year and a half, already thru my first AQP and 6 months or so before my next training event. I bailed for greener pastures, and hopefully a quick upgrade. (which happened)

If you live in base and can drive to work, the place is somewhat more bearable. I don't have a clue what seniority/movement in Indy looks like since I'm from California and try to avoid the place like my sanity depends on it. Indy is the one and only outstation that is ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEED not to close with minimal notice a month after you sign a lease on an apartment. Just to reiterate, being able to drive to work will have an enormous impact on your quality of life. A one leg commute to reserve is terrible, a two leg commute will make your life unbearable. You may as well premptively dump any wife or girlfriend you may have because you'll only see them a few times every month.

I've been a commuter for my entire sentence here at BB's funhouse because I absolutely refuse to move anywhere for this company. Many of us have easily have 10 or more domiciles under our belts due to the constant opening and closing of domiciles. Yet our boss continually berates commuters because "it's a lifestyle choice". I'm going to just stop before I go into a multi-page tirade.

then why the e'f do you guys stay its like being able to untie your self from the whipping block and walk away but you rather stay and hope the beatings lessen. There are much better places than RAH.

You kinda get to a point where you seriously just don't giva a damn anymore and just go through the motions to just get each trip over with as expeditiously as possible. I personally have been working to just get out of aviation all together. Just not there yet. In the meantime, I still have to pay the mortgage and feed the kids. It's not a glamorous life, but I bite the bullet and drag myself off to work each day. Now please don't even think of accuse me of being willing to scab if Hell should freeze over and we walk. There are simply some things this wretched old soul will never do.

Is there any way to go and edit a post for auto-correct spelling errors? :confused:

I know bro. It was a joke. I thought you'd get it.

Consider this. Probably less than 1% of each pilot group are represented on this board. And the ones who are here are typically bitter towards all airlines other than the one they work for. Look at the posting history of some of these people who consider their opinion to be gospel. When it comes to asking the Internet for advice concerning your career, consider the source.

Says the undercover salesman for a large national flight school.

Or you could, as in the case of many of the RAH naysayers, look at how their opinions of the company turned from positive to negative over time and realize that if you go to work for that company, you'll suffer the same fate.

OR, you could realize, as in my case, that many went to work at RAH knowing very little about how absolutely miserable it is to work for one of the most labor-hostile airline managements in history and is being of service to others by attempting to inform and educate.

There are at least three people on this very message board that failed to heed the warnings and went to RAH only to leave very shortly after...half of our attrition are FOs...those are clear indicators of serious problems.

We're not just being "cranky."

If you can drive to base it helps mitigate the pain at RAH. Of our ridiculous bases, IND, is one of the least likely to close. BUT, we are parking planes to staff new planes and everyone KNOWS displacements are coming to help balance staffing for the UA deliveries. Upgrades are ~6.5-7 years and they'll probably drop to 5 years IF we don't park more planes.

So if you want to hangout at IND for half a decade and work under one of the worst contracts in the business while watching your peers at other carriers upgrade, move on, and make more money with more time off, then yeah RAH would be ok.

That said, it really matters what your priorities are. If priority 1 on a long term strategy is to get to a legacy, RAH is one of the last choices I'd make. If it's living it up in base and waiting till 2022 to be competitive for a legacy while not having to commute, then RAH would work (for now).

as sh*tty a sample size it is...of the 2 dozen or so that work or have worked there...if 90% are saying its worse than syphilis of the eye...than I would take some of it with a least a bit of grain of salt.

When I resigned 2 months ago...they ACP pilot called me to ask me why I was leaving...I told him the CQFO program at TSA...and he was like crap...thought that was going to be a problem, then he said and I quote: "we had 42 resign company wide just this week...summer is gonna be rough"

then the rumor I heard from several buddies still there that if they can't staff the current flying from the 145's, they will have to park some 170's

I thought the goal was to park the 145s so they could staff the 175 flying, not the other way around. Thats why they didnt renew the "American Connection" 140 flying in ORD so they could staff the 175 "American Eagle" flying in ORD.

yeah I didn't proof read...my bad

they plan to staff the 170's with pilots from the 145...but supposedly that still wont be enough

I worked there for a couple years before moving on. The schedule was halfway decent the last 6 months before I left (I bid 10 of 60 in base). Everything else was tough, plan on making 1600/bucks per month after taxes, the work rules are pretty bad, and there was no upgrade in sight though I hear it's gotten a lot better since I bailed. If you live in base it's tolerable though.