Regional Perks and Bonuses (pros and cons)..
 

With the latest panic to get qualified (or not), guys in the door, most airlines are offering an incentive to sign on. I'd like to start a thread that lists some of them for the guys trying to decide which way to go. Please just list the important things of the pros and cons like: sign on bonus, upgrade time, flow through agreement, PIC type rating out of training.. etc..

Please don't bash any other airline, or start flaming.. It would be nice to have an informative thread.. I'll start with the companies I talked to at Trans States Holdings, which owns Trans States, GoJet, and Compass. (If you see something that you don't agree with in someone's info, please don't flame it, just add a courteous correction).

Trans States:
Pros: $10,000 sign on bonus (three installments over a year, payback if you leave before one year), upgrade as soon as you meet 121.436 requirement, paid training with accommodation (between $1,400-$1,500/month), travel agreements with UAL and AA, adding 51 aircraft this year (all ERJ 145s), expecting to need over 500 pilots, ALPA representation, possible to hold any base due to growth (new base in DEN), new contracts are good for seven years. Launch customer for the MRJ, due in 2017, but.... delivery date is uncertain due to problems in Japan.
Cons:: Rapid growth, training is having a hard time keeping up, so a little delay between ground training and IOE. Competing in the 50 seat market, which has niche, but is expected to decline.

GoJet
Pros: $10,000 signing bonus (three installments over a year). Rapid upgrade (Not sure, but I hear it is as fast as you meet 121.436 requirements). PIC typed out of training in the CRJ 700/900. Seven new CRJ 900s coming this year. Four hotel overnights per month provide for commuting pilots. Very friendly and professional pilot group. Expecting to hire over 147 pilots this year. New contract in negotiation. Travel on UAL and DAL.
Cons: Previous stigma due to the circumstances under which GJ was started. (Perceived, but not recognized outside of the smaller regional pilot groups. Particular animosity from a small percentage of TSA pilots. This stigma has not prevented GJ pilots from career progression). Union representation from Teamsters. (They are not an airline centric union. There are some conspiracy theories that they are too close to the management). A short delay between ground training and IOE (currently about 3 weeks). Seniority progression is not as fast as at TSA if you are looking at the TSH family of airlines.

I don't know anything about Compass, so maybe someone can add that to complete the TSH companies.

Was next to Endeavor Air at the recent OBAP Career Fair and they're offering $80,000 as a hiring incentive.

Paid out over 4 years, at $20,000/year.
If you leave early, you owe nothing back.

Endeavor website says $20k bonus through 2018...so i'd check if you're signing on, to verify that you're still getting $80k, vs $60k...

The Endeavor Air Retention payment started in January for both existing and new hire pilots. It is paid out every 4 months ($6667). This goes thru 2018. (80K total)

New hires today would be looking at $73K over the next 42 months, which is still more $$ than every current regional airline bonus combined.

The Endeavor bonus is a retention bonus, aimed at keeping people there to keep the place afloat. The real question for a new hire to consider is that $80k worth it at the end of 4 years if you're still sitting in the right seat? Or would you ultimately be better off going somewhere you can upgrade in 18 months or less assuming you meet the reqs? I can see both sides of the coin, the next few years are going to be very interesting.

Endeavor upgrades are looking at close to 30 months now. Pretty impressive training facilities, too. My recruiter pal there says they're done parking 50-seaters and are likely going to start bringing them back in late summer based on hiring. Also, I saw something about several hundred committed to move to Delta (~700ish) over the next few years. Should be pretty quick upgrades once that movement starts happening. Couple that with the pay, and if Delta is where you want to be...seems like Endeavor is pretty sweet.

Upgrades at Endeavor will go even more junior as more FO's are getting hired at DL and just waiting 2-3 years for a class date. I would guess that a good percentage of them will just stay in the right seat and take a good schedule plus retention bonus vs sitting on reserve for until they make the move.

I'm sorry, What? Can you explain this?

SSP FOs that get a CJO go to DL after all CA SSPs that get a CJO (even the CAs that haven't interviewed yet). The hiring commitment this year is 144, next year is 180. CAs that are interviewing now will have to wait over a year.

Difference between TSA and GoJet bonus
 

Both bonuses are $10k, but with TSA, if you quit before a year, you have to pay back any installments.. At Gojet, whatever money you get, you can keep if you leave early..

bump! Any others?