What's the play?
11-24-2015, 07:40 AM
#1
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Joined APC: Sep 2015
Posts: 95
What's the play?
Through my time on this delightful platform, I as many others are trying to make an educated decision on where to work. After the completion of many interviews I find myself at a standstill. So at this point I'll do what I always do while making large decisions, have a random group of strangers from the Internet tell me what to do.
I understand that QOL and bases are the most important thing to the majority of contributors on this forum, but the reality is that there are people such as myself who have nothing else to do other than work (and, the saddest statement of the year goes to...), therefore making the search for the movement more feasible. It seems as though everyone has similar answers on their companies thread (with the exceptions of the recruiters lurking), "no upgrade here, ****ty contract, bad bases, go to somewhere good".
What I am asking is, does such a place exist or is the grass just always greener on the other side.
Please be gentile... 😱🍆
I understand that QOL and bases are the most important thing to the majority of contributors on this forum, but the reality is that there are people such as myself who have nothing else to do other than work (and, the saddest statement of the year goes to...), therefore making the search for the movement more feasible. It seems as though everyone has similar answers on their companies thread (with the exceptions of the recruiters lurking), "no upgrade here, ****ty contract, bad bases, go to somewhere good".
What I am asking is, does such a place exist or is the grass just always greener on the other side.
Please be gentile... 😱🍆
11-24-2015, 07:47 AM
#2
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2011
Position: DHC-8 100/300
Posts: 843
Originally Posted by waker92
Through my time on this delightful platform, I as many others are trying to make an educated decision on where to work. After the completion of many interviews I find myself at a standstill. So at this point I'll do what I always do while making large decisions, have a random group of strangers from the Internet tell me what to do.
I understand that QOL and bases are the most important thing to the majority of contributors on this forum, but the reality is that there are people such as myself who have nothing else to do other than work (and, the saddest statement of the year goes to...), therefore making the search for the movement more feasible. It seems as though everyone has similar answers on their companies thread (with the exceptions of the recruiters lurking), "no upgrade here, ****ty contract, bad bases, go to somewhere good".
What I am asking is, does such a place exist or is the grass just always greener on the other side.
Please be gentile... 😱🍆
I understand that QOL and bases are the most important thing to the majority of contributors on this forum, but the reality is that there are people such as myself who have nothing else to do other than work (and, the saddest statement of the year goes to...), therefore making the search for the movement more feasible. It seems as though everyone has similar answers on their companies thread (with the exceptions of the recruiters lurking), "no upgrade here, ****ty contract, bad bases, go to somewhere good".
What I am asking is, does such a place exist or is the grass just always greener on the other side.
Please be gentile... 😱🍆
11-24-2015, 08:15 AM
#3
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2014
Posts: 233
To be honest they're all bad in terms of pay and QOL, especially early on in your career. You need to make a list of what you expect to get out the regional you work for in order of importance.
Is your domicile or starting pay more important? Is the contract or movement/upgrade times more important? Is not having a flow program a deal breaker?
None of the regionals are a good place to work, per say, but you can minimize your frustration quite a bit by deciding what is important to you and going somewhere that offers whatever that may be.
Is your domicile or starting pay more important? Is the contract or movement/upgrade times more important? Is not having a flow program a deal breaker?
None of the regionals are a good place to work, per say, but you can minimize your frustration quite a bit by deciding what is important to you and going somewhere that offers whatever that may be.
11-24-2015, 11:05 AM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2014
Position: A321 - 39E
Posts: 312
Well, I would start by suggesting you pick up a new hobby! Biking? Woodworking? Golf? There is always something else to do than work!
As a stranger on the internet I do feel fully qualified to make major life decisions for you, so if I were you here are some things I would think about:
1. Where do you want to be long-term? UAL, DAL, AA? Something else entirely or something specific? For example, if you want to live in Dallas, you probably want to work for American, which means you would probably want to consider one of their WO regionals for the flow since OTS jobs there seem sparse. Flows and guaranteed interviews aren't magical golden eggs, but it may matter if you have a target airline in mind.
2. Stability of the regional you go to. This gets downplayed because everyone hopes they'll be at the regionals for such a short amount of time it doesn't matter. Well, back in 2007 they were hiring like crazy and everyone was talking about the retirement boom...a major recession and change in retirement age that ****ed over all the young guys later and now many of those people that thought they would be in and out have been at their regional for 8 years. There are no guarantees, but go somewhere you could survive staying at if things go to ****.
3. Don't choose solely based on upgrades. There are a few places to avoid but on the most part, upgrade times are going down fast everywhere. If you have the full 1,000 hours to build before you can upgrade anyway, don't think it'll make a difference going somewhere where the current upgrade time is 6 months if there is a better option that upgrades in 1.5-2 years.
I'm at Horizon but the environment here is completely different now from when I started. I don't think I would come here right now as a new hire and even at that I largely did because of the bases (which sound like a non-factor for you).
I am not biased towards any of these options but if I were ready to move anywhere and wanted to find the best balance of job quality to opportunity to progress and leave, I would look at Compass or Piedmont the most. Piedmont seems to be better than PSA while still having a reasonably short enough upgrade that your options outside of AA are not affected like they might be at Envoy since their upgrade is long. I have probably awoken the three jealous stepchildren of American by saying that, but so be it - just one guys opinion. Anyway, maybe CommutAir with the new contract in the works. I'd keep Skywest and Horizon in mind (wouldn't pull the trigger on Horizon until this jet thing is sorted out) and avoid Republic and ExpressJet. Don't get suckered in by the $40 an hour, just polish on a turd.
Well, now that I have name-dropped several regionals here comes all the hate! And in all seriousness, think it through for yourself and don't put yourself through undue misery so you can upgrade a few months sooner. Go somewhere you could handle if the plan falls apart and you end up there for a while.
Oh, and don't commute. Commuting sucks.
As a stranger on the internet I do feel fully qualified to make major life decisions for you, so if I were you here are some things I would think about:
1. Where do you want to be long-term? UAL, DAL, AA? Something else entirely or something specific? For example, if you want to live in Dallas, you probably want to work for American, which means you would probably want to consider one of their WO regionals for the flow since OTS jobs there seem sparse. Flows and guaranteed interviews aren't magical golden eggs, but it may matter if you have a target airline in mind.
2. Stability of the regional you go to. This gets downplayed because everyone hopes they'll be at the regionals for such a short amount of time it doesn't matter. Well, back in 2007 they were hiring like crazy and everyone was talking about the retirement boom...a major recession and change in retirement age that ****ed over all the young guys later and now many of those people that thought they would be in and out have been at their regional for 8 years. There are no guarantees, but go somewhere you could survive staying at if things go to ****.
3. Don't choose solely based on upgrades. There are a few places to avoid but on the most part, upgrade times are going down fast everywhere. If you have the full 1,000 hours to build before you can upgrade anyway, don't think it'll make a difference going somewhere where the current upgrade time is 6 months if there is a better option that upgrades in 1.5-2 years.
I'm at Horizon but the environment here is completely different now from when I started. I don't think I would come here right now as a new hire and even at that I largely did because of the bases (which sound like a non-factor for you).
I am not biased towards any of these options but if I were ready to move anywhere and wanted to find the best balance of job quality to opportunity to progress and leave, I would look at Compass or Piedmont the most. Piedmont seems to be better than PSA while still having a reasonably short enough upgrade that your options outside of AA are not affected like they might be at Envoy since their upgrade is long. I have probably awoken the three jealous stepchildren of American by saying that, but so be it - just one guys opinion. Anyway, maybe CommutAir with the new contract in the works. I'd keep Skywest and Horizon in mind (wouldn't pull the trigger on Horizon until this jet thing is sorted out) and avoid Republic and ExpressJet. Don't get suckered in by the $40 an hour, just polish on a turd.
Well, now that I have name-dropped several regionals here comes all the hate! And in all seriousness, think it through for yourself and don't put yourself through undue misery so you can upgrade a few months sooner. Go somewhere you could handle if the plan falls apart and you end up there for a while.
Oh, and don't commute. Commuting sucks.
11-25-2015, 06:38 AM
#6
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2006
Position: B73N A
Posts: 344
There is no one size fits all regional. You have to look at your financial situation, location and stability. We all want to get to majors as fast as possible but it's not a race and please don't stab the rest of us in the backs while doing so. Sometimes it ends up just being a leap of faith. Also keep in mind the variables are constantly changing. What seems like decent joint can quickly go south and a crummy place can all of a sudden get new flying, contract and or flow and become the "Bees Knees"! You just never know what's around the corner. I will say to take a look at the big picture and ask yourself questions like why places give huge bonuses yet struggle to attract anyone. All you can do is research and gather as much factual information (not opinionated) and go with what fits your needs and goals. Start with location, don't commute if all possible, then look at growth, contract and work rules (not just pay scales). Like someone said earlier nobody plans to be at regionals for a long time but it has happened a lot. You have to ask yourself if you will still be content if you had to finish your career at said regional if times got tough. Good luck!
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