If I lived in IAH how many days a month will I be away from base. Or how many days can I be in my own bed? Trying to decide between XJET and MESA.

 

It will depend on your seniority and how you bid. But I think it is safe to say that on average you can sleep half of the month in your own bed. If living in IAH is one of your top priorities and you can afford it I would suggest Mesa.

 

[QUOTE=Santos Dumont;2180571]It will depend on your seniority and how you bid. But I think it is safe to say that on average you can sleep half of the month in your own bed. If living in IAH is one of your top priorities and you can afford it I would suggest Mesa.[/QUOTE

Living in IAH is my top priority. Can you speak more about affording it? Is the pay that much worse then others? I know they don't have the best reputation for being a high paid regional, but how much less is it really at the end of the day?

 

Living in IAH is my top priority. Can you speak more about affording it? Is the pay that much worse then others? I know they don't have the best reputation for being a high paid regional, but how much less is it really at the end of the day?[/QUOTE]

You live in IAH right now? Can you go anywhere else? I don't care where you go, but your asking for some input so I'll offer my .02.

$$ is very very important in life and especially this life and also all the other types of compensation available. Even if you live in IAH, I bet you need to be able to afford a car and its expenses( Maint, gas, tires, insurance, etc.)

What's the medical insurance coverage like? What's it cost? What are the deductibles? What is the total compensation package? Bonus, expenses paid? They pay for KCM? Global? All the little stuff adds up when you are making less than the Taco Cabana help. You incure expenses on the road, forgotten stuff, airport chow, etc. Are you being paid enough to afford them?

If IAH is your top priority, look at who is based there and what they offer. Can you live somewhere else?

Do you like to suffer? If so then live life making crap wages and be worried about every cent you can. Can you qualify for assistance of some sort? You like working a job where you gotta go seek assistance from the Government to live?

If you got someone else paying the bills, live life large and who cares, but if you gotta pay all your own bills....?

If Mesa is the only game in town and you want a play on their field, you gotta play their game, but short answer,
Yes, it really is that much less here than at other places at the end of the day.

 

Dude. Do your research about Mesa. They are the lowest paid in the industry. Worst contract in the industry. If you want to live in IAH then XJT is your best bet. If you are worried about XJT then look at Envoy in DFW. Mesa used to have short upgrade times but that is over for newhires.

 

Going by the numbers here on APC the ExpressJet F.O. pay scale for the EMB-145 side starts at $37 an hour the first year and you get a minimum of 75 hours a month. From there it goes up to $45 an hour at 8 years.

Mesa on the other hand will start you of at $22 an hour and you get a minimum of 76 hours. The pay scale goes up to $37 an hour at year 8.

So ExpressJet will start paying you your first year roughly what Mesa will pay you at 8 years. Your min guaranteed assuming you don´t fly at all at ExpressJet will be about $33,000 the first year while at Mesa it would be about $20,000.

I´m not too familiar with the ExpressJet contract, but I believe they have rigs, min day, etc... which increases your overall compensation. At Mesa we don´t have anything like that, except 200% for junior assignments.

Also, ExpressJet medical benefits and retirement plan is superior to Mesa´s, and the quality of the hotels at Mesa will cost you a few stressful nights on the road.

So in reality Mesa does not have much of an incentive to attract new people.

Having said all that, if you live in Houston, cannot move, have another source of income, and don´t want to put up with the commuting non-sense (I still don´t get how so many pilots happily spend so many nights in a crashpad, or show up to work the first day of a trip with an uniform already dirty from the commute) Mesa might actually not be that bad of a choice.

ExpressJet has multiple bases for the 145 and IAH is fairly senior. I know a few junior F.O.s that are worried they are going to get displaced out of Houston once their DFW base closes. Mesa´s only E-175 base is IAH and for now it looks solid. Reserve time is also longer at ExpressJet than at Mesa, and if anything the ERJ-170, ERJ-190 Type is a nice thing to have. The E-175 flying is also better than the flying on the 145.

So, it comes down to how much value you put on being home based at IAH.

 

The pay and benefits are definitely less...it adds up. However, if you have a significant other that can take care of those costs, then that changes things. It's all about your individual situation if Mesa is right for you and whether staying in Houston is worth it to you. Commuting also has costs, both financially and on your stress levels.

 

I'll say it again, Mesa is one of the best regionals to work for if you look beyond pay and benefits. Yes, those are hard pills to swallow, but the low pay for me at 4 year CA pay is better than what I would be getting elsewhere if still an FO. The medical insurance I have to pay for through the exchange IS eating a large portion of my pay check, I am basically paying two mortgages.

 

Yeah and that is the equivilant of saying "she looks great if you put a bag over her head, turn the lights off, and pretend she doesn't weigh 300lbs..."

Seriously man, outside of pay and benefits what are the other MAJOR reaons in pursuing a career in the first place? That's kind of the whole point...make a decent living, enjoy a nice QOL, snd be able to retire comfortably when the time comes. And that definitely ain't happening at YV

 

I think you should pick a regional that works best with your budget, home, and personal circumstances. Mesa has a bad reputation because of how management has treated the crew members over the past 20 years. For whatever reason, the rest of the *regional pilots talk down on Mesa pilots. Mostly because of the fast upgrade times and low pay that still has yet to be fixed. Republic used to be in the exact same position. Now they are industry leading. I wouldn't count on Mesa ever fulfilling the same path though. With any company, there are good people and bad people. At the end of the day, we all fly the same kinds of airplanes, to the same types of destinations, and work rules are what they are. Lets hope that the regionals dissolve and mainline picks up the flying.