Leaving one Regional for Another....
 

Ok, so a year into one, thinking about jumping ship. Thoughts..

That really depends on which ones you're going to/from. There are a lot of variables like growth, bankruptcy, bases, etc that factor in. It can either be a very successful move or complete disaster if you pick wrong.

That's a highly personal question. And I personally wouldn't take a whole lot of what people on this board have to say about it too seriously. You likely already know the right answer. If you're at an airline with a large seniority list you happen to find yourself at the bottom of it might not be a bad idea. If you're commuting for an airline and you are experiencing very little relative seniority movement it might not be a bad idea. If you already have your 1,000 121 hours but might not upgrade for another year or two, and you are considering a DEC position it might be a bad idea (for both long term financial and qol reasons). You get the picture...

Exactly why im trying to be calculating in the move. Frankly, more base options and long term growth are main factors. Immediate increase in pay wont hurt either. I dont have upgraditis so thats not a huge consideration, yet the upgrade times are coming down anyhow. Im looking for more west coast base options. If i upgrade where I am, id be stuck i feel. Not to mention bases far far away, and on reserve in them forever...

Don't you work for Mesa? What regional could possibly be better?

I did that jump....Reason, base in my home town, more solid company, less drama.. Its been great.. I have seen people do it for quick upgrade, ect. That seems to never work out to well. You may get a quick upgrade. But it takes a toll on your personal life.. Do it for the right reason.

so basically... cant go wrong? lol

Worked at a really good regional, got bought by a crappy regional. Left there for another good regional, based an hour from where I grew up, good equipment, growth at the time, don't regret it at all.

Three years later left for a major. Glad I did it.

I've been considering it myself. Mainly to be home based and due to the immediate increase in pay. I figure if poop hits the fan at least I'm 20mins from base. It's still hard to move forward on starting over. Specially when your current company shows these little signs of "possibly" getting better lol.

Sounds like poor planning? Not to be mean, I've had friends switch, but then why'd you go to where you're at now? There must have been reasons you chose where you're at and reasons you didn't choose where you're thinking of going.

Unless your airline declares bankruptcy or somebody all of the sudden opens a junior base where you live, I figure stay the course. But that's just one uninformed anonymous Internet poster's opinion.

I deliberated pretty heavily between the two initially. I had some pretty specific circumstances / family needs at the time and made my choice accordingly. I got what I needed out of the situation and am able to look further down the road now career / base option wise. Dont regret going where i did, but do have more freedom now.

I left the worst airline that I know of, which will remain nameless, and went to Skywest. It is such an improvement. They treat me with respect and do not spend all of their time trying to figure out how to cheat me out of every penny I earned. I can pickup trips and they actually pay me for them.
At my last airline it was the bait and switch. They would call me for a 10 hour 2 day trip but when I called them back it would be fly to Saint Louis, spend the night, deadhead back the next afternoon. I would say I'm not spending 2 day to get 1 hour and 40 minutes of flying and they would say, "But it's time and a half!"
At my last airline I volunteered to sit airport reserve on my days off because the company had no pilots on reserve. It pays 5/day. On the last day of the month the Chief Pilot called to yell at me that if I wanted to fly I could put myself on the volunteer list but I could not sit airport reserve. I responded that I was not going to sit reserve for free. He knew I lived close to the airport and figured they would have me for free. Next day they called me 22 times (voice mail) needing me to fly a three leg trip. They ended up having to cancel all 3 flights because of no pilots. I wonder what that cost them?
I highly recommend going to Skywest to anyone, even if you are a captain at my old airline.
Don't be afraid to switch from crap to a good airline.

XJ?

Filler....

thats good to hear. Skywest is where im thinking to go...

Been a good choice for me so far. Had the option to go to Compass as well but it came down to choices of base. Both seemed like pretty decent options. There's a lot of movement in the bases, and you can pretty much get to any within six months of starting, most in less time. If you do end up here do not choose the 175, and pretty much everyone in the SkyWest thread will agree; you'll never fly.

I left Mesa for SkyWest as soon as I satisfied my training note last fall. Mostly because I live in a SkyWest base. It wasn't an easy decision for me, but SKYW's pay improvements over the last year made it easier. $36.50/hr + $7500 signing bonus + better soft pay = 1st yr pay around $45k

My Mesa classmates are all hitting their 1000 hrs and starting to upgrade, which is causing me to second-guess my decision a little lately, but overall, it's been a good decision.

I do miss the crews at Mesa--equal parts great people, Stockholm Syndrome, and misery loves company, I guess! :lol:

SkyWest isn't without its warts, though; it's a huge company compared to Mesa, and it's been tough to connect with people here the way I did at Mesa. My newhire class here had 63 people, vs 19 at Mesa. As a result, I only got to know MAYBE a dozen of my classmates well. And they are in desperate need of a union here; I've experienced a lot of stuff that was never a problem at Mesa simply because we had a contract.

Good luck with your decision and feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Does changing regional airlines have any negative impacts on gaining a position at a major. I suppose you could just explain your situation in an interview. Someone told me the other day that switching around is not good for your overall career.

Majors dont care... And class sizes are smaller now. Instead of 70 once a month, there 35 every 2 weeks..

If you were going to change regionals I would look at the following...
1. Flow. Yeah we get it flow may or may not work... we've beat that to death. But wouldnt going to a regional with the chance that flow does work be better than going to one without that option if you're going to be doing the same thing at both regionals anyways?

2. Upgrade time. Being a captain isnt important but the money that comes with it sure is!

3. Quality of life. Chose a regional thats growing like crazy, little reserve time, close to where you want to live.

My top 3 choices would be
1.Piedmont - Fastest flow out of all 3 american regionals, most growth, quick ca upgrade... as soon as you have the time. contract allows for TONS of money above that horrible hourly rate.
2.Compass - all those guys and gals seem really happy. quick upgrade and west coast being junior is really nice. Delta backed so probably will be around a long time. Upgrade is getting longer there so I'd go quick.
3.Commut Air - interview with united could be good but tons of growth in the mean time. Ca upgrade will be coming down. Small family feel airline so youd get to know your fellow crewmembers. People that go there seem to love it!

Places I'd avoid.
1. Skywest. Long upgrade, no contract for protection. (Though their size is appealing for safety)
2. Envoy. That seems like a mess with old flow and new flow and longest flow time with the new american deal. ca upgrade is way too long. pilots seem bitter.
3. Endeavor. Really? That signing bonus? And the pilots dont realize how badly they're getting worked over by management. Besides, anyone who does math will realize you can basically make what you're making at Endeavor by going to Piedmont, Compass, or maaaybe Comut Air... Hence why they're my top three.

^SkyWest long upgrade?? Its below 3 years and we go from 45 Erj's to 104 in the next 12 months. Funny in 1999 5+year upgrade was normal. Now everyone is complaining its not 2 months.... Its all about QOL... And were you want to live..

.Commut Air - interview with united could be good but tons of growth in the mean time. Ca upgrade will be coming down. Small family feel airline so youd get to know your fellow crewmembers. People that go there seem to love it!

^^^^^ Yup...looks like the best opportunities all around right now. Check it out.

Fair enough. Sadly the guys that are complaining of upgrades live where they want and don't want to move for the upgrade so maybe that wasn't too fair.

However friends there for 2+ years say they're about 3 years away from an upgrade.

You may want to them again. Lots changed last week. Lots of movment..

I don't suppose your DTW base will be the 175 base... if so sign me up!

Negative. As of right now it's going to be a 200 only base.

That signing bonus is not paid just first year... The second year it is paid again, and the third. After that, it's up for renegotiation, true.. but prior to that it's part of the pay. How are we getting worked over any worse than any other regional with a contract that has seen numerous improvements. We now have 100% DH pay, Hotels in base for commuters if an overnight cancels, positive space from home to training (not from base), positive space to home airport instead of base if it's the last leg of a trip (this one I believe has some restrictions but I live in base so I don't use it), if you care to go to Delta you get a guaranteed interview (granted it's been a coin flip for guys but A.K. is going to either retire or die some day...) Plenty of other things but you get the idea....
Now granted the down side is you will spend your reserve time sitting reserve not just for Endeavor but the entire Delta system (largely GoJet and ExpressJet, but everyone else, even mainline occasionally) though for new hires, that time is short.

No thanks...

SJS got its hooks in ya?

Are you high? Endeavor is one of the best places to be right now. First year and I am set to gross $65K NO ONE can touch that. Unlike some other carriers that doesn't drop off after year 1. 100% deadhead, 150% for all open time, 150% for assigned credit over 85, great work rules for a regional, 2 month reserve, and actual 2 year upgrade (just upgraded an April 2014 hire). All that plus an opportunity to interview at Delta.

So, please inform me, what is not to like about Endeavor? This isn't the same 9E from a few years back...

No, I could be a line holding DTW captain on the 200 at Endeavor right now, but it would certainly not be sitting at home hardly flying as was suggested would be the case in that previous post by going to SkyWest. So why would I switch to SkyWest just to fly a 200 and work my arse off there as FO?

Man, you guys sure get offended when someone should even HINT at the notion that working for Endeavor is not the pinnacle (no pun intended) of the regional airline world. Do they pay a bonus for sticking up for them or something?

It's a fine place to work I'm sure, but people on here are just saying it's pretty much like everywhere else...and they're right. Most people don't care that you get a little more money, there's more to life than that. It's not that different than anywhere else, and each place has pros and cons.

They're not attacking you personally, just stating facts and giving opinions...we all have that right.

Well, if you like money it's not a bad place to go. To each their own. (I like money so I went to 9E and I don't regret it.)

There were a few other points that he stated I take issue with.. Saying that Compass is "Delta backed" and that Skywest isn't a good place to go to... I think that's where "are you high?" might have been an appropriate response.

They're all regionals. Domicile, reserve length, pay, upgrade are your concerns not necessarily in that order.

Exactly...well put. Comments like "are you high" are made by the kind of people who turn boards like this south.

Gee, I thought that's why we went to work was $. The day they stop paying is the day we would ALL look for another job.
Why would you do the same job for less? Unless you lived in a domicile.

Why would I do the same job for less? For a couple grand for a year or two? Seriously? That list has been mentioned at length just up the page and numerous other pages on this board. You even answered yourself about domicile. It's not all about money my friend. After you've been through 6 airlines, like myself, and had 4 furloughs and 2 that no longer exist, then you'll get it...maybe. I'm starting to wonder though. Good luck.

Well I guess that makes you the expert on places NOT to go!
Yes, I gave one example of why possible a person would go to a
lower paying airline.
Obviously as you have found out, stability is very important.

Im guessing but $65k is pretty good pay for an FO at a regional. That's more than just a couple thousand above the avg. FO annual gross pay.

Ok let me make this a little easier to discuss. Leaving Mesa for Skywest..

Please explain how CompAss is "Delta backed"?

They were sold to Hulas, and have the same ownership as Gojet and TSA.