So after 20 years in the military, i am more worried about being able to move somewhere finally and not really have to worry about moving for a while. With that being said I would Like to move to TX. Dallas or Houston, it doesn't really matter. I have tried to decipher what people have said about each regional that i could be at in TX. After much review, I have come to the conclusion that, in this order, Envoy, Expressjet, and Mesa is how i would apply. I also saw Skywest also has a TX base, but i don't know how reasonable that out of training would be. Any thoughts on this???

 

Most junior FO in IAH is a 2/23/15 hire, so probably 2 months after training. Things are moving fast here at Skywest so who knows.

 

I would avoid Mesa. Work rules are near the bottom of the regionals. Many pilots I fly with, jumped ship from Mesa after a year or so, and went to another regional.

Envoy, ExpressJet, Skywest are all top-tier regionals (but that is not really saying much!). They all have their pluses/minuses.

When joining the regionals, definitely do some research into their particular work rules. Quality of life can vary widely.

 

Thank you for your service. A friend I went through Expressjet new hire training with was retired Air Force and was picked up by Southwest shortly after his first anniversary. He networked like crazy, but was able to pull it off. He also lived in TX. So my advice is to pick a regional with good work rules that will allow you to move and drop trips so you can go to career fairs and interview prep. I would say XJT followed by Skywest. I believe the reserve rules are better at XJT so I put that one first. Good luck.

 

Follow #4's advice. Go to regional in the area (besides mesa and rp) sell yourself for a year to anyone willing to listen, then you can pretend you never were subjected to our hell in the regionals!..

 

What work rules are bad at Mesa? We don't get to experience the SKW reflow issues and get treated fairly well, especially when not on reserve. I had several former XJT pilots in my class at Mesa who hated it there and left XJT for Mesa. Envoy is envoy. People who had a bad experience with Mesa was from years ago. Current Mesa employees don't bash Mesa like Non-Mesa pilots. People aren't leaving Mesa for other regionals for the most part.

 

If I were you I would go to XJT they have IAH and DFW. They also send a lot of guys to United. They have good rsv rules I've heard. Envoy is negotiating theirs so you could wait and see what they get. Being military your United app would probably be scored the highest coming from XJT.

I cant imagine AA hiring you through the front door if you go to Envoy, I've always wondered if them having an official flow for the last 20 years has caused other carriers to limit the opportunity they receive because they've always had their opportunity with American.

Delta seems like they shine a flashlight so far up your *** they wanna know what you were doing waaay before you were ever thinking about going to Delta. So they can get a "clear" picture of you, not the white washed version you will present at the interview. Good news is what's done is done, out your hands now with them, you either have what they want or don't.

 

Most junior Captain at Mesa is a February 2015 hire.

Bunch of guys in my crashpad at IAH are guys who left XJT for Mesa in the last year.

I don't care enough anymore to type out a lengthy discussion about Mesa vs Regional ABC. But I think the two points above should be serious food for thought.

 

Skywest currently doesn't have reserve in most bases lol

 

Mesa is barely above Gojetz in QOL and pay. My buddy is there now and hates it.