How much does your regional matter?
 

Hello all!

First of all, thanks in advance for any replies.

My background,
I went to a 4 year, AABI accredited University with a part 141 program and great training with a well-respected flight school. Unfortunately, even though I had a great college experience, the school did not prepare me as well as it could have for the job that I was seeking. The school did not get approved for restricted ATP minimums, forcing me to look elsewhere to build extra flight time instead of getting to the regional job that I have been seeking. I try not to regret things in my life, but I keep thinking "man I should have gone to ____ (riddle, UND, etc.)," because this would've never happened to them. Instead I went to ___ (no name, yet good, school) and a paperwork snafu has left me a bit delayed in my career. WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS?

Well, it's time for me to actually choose a regional to go to. A lot of people have told me, and I've heard, that the regional you choose DOES matter in terms of landing a job at a major. My question is, how much weight should I put on that when choosing a regional for myself? I deeply value my base choice because I'd like to live in-base (which is NY for me). But if going to _____ (ExpressJet?) will help me to potentially advance my career further and faster, I am willing to suck it up a while longer.

I know that no company is perfect, but as an outsider, it's extremely difficult to see the differences in training, company culture, etc., much like it was before choosing a college.

I hope I'm making sense!
:confused:

If you want to go to American, go work for Piedmont, PSA, or Envoy.

If you want to fly for Delta, go to Endeavor.

If you want to fly for United, go to CommutAir, ExpressJet, or maybe SlyWest?

While pilots from every regional get hired all over the place, look at the regionals who either have or are developing partnerships for moving their pilots up to mainline.

#allregionalsmatter

You're way overthinking this. The first question to ask when chosing a regional is where do you live, or where do you want to live?

If you want to live in NY (or NYC) go to Endeavor.

It simply doesn't matter. In spite of what you read on here. Period.



(Well, with the exception of GauxJetsss of course...:rolleyes:...<---sarcasm alert for those of you who have your detector deferred.)

Just choose a regional that you would be content being stuck at. It's not likely it will happen soon but just in case. In my experience, I would be fine getting stuck at PDT. The contract and benefits are decent, I'm living where I want to (good travel benefits/commuter clause), and I can still keep my apps in at Delta and United and see which of the big 3 works out for me first.

That's originally what I was thinking. But part of me thinks, let's say in a few years the majors truly are hurting the way they say they are. Why would they want to cripple their own regional partners by stripping their pilots?

Definitely something I've thought about. For me, that would be Endeavor right now, simply for the strong NY presence.

For training and company culture, Expressjet is very good. If you're on the other side of Manhattan then EWR can be a pain to get to (vice versa with JFK/LGA). The value of the cpp remains to be seen but supposedly United hires many xjet'ers in general.

Hahaha, wouldn't be the first time I've been told I'm overthinking something ..

I know Endeavor is a great choice for NY. But for that matter, wouldn't Republic be as well?

Yeah, that's what I've been told. I trust my friends at xJet, who seem to love it. But just because they like something doesn't mean I wil and vice versa ... Getting to EWR is a real pain for me as I live on Long Island. I'm literaly 20 minutes from JFK haha

Have a few friends here at Endeavor that go to JFK and LGA from Long Island. I'm not sure if Republic still have a JFK base or if it went with the 145s.

Yeah rjet is advertising 175 out of LGA now, which really wouldn't be too bad. It's a hell of a lot better than commuting to HPN which I do 5 days a week back and forth haha

Oh man, that would get old really fast lol. Either way, JFK/LGA bases should give you a few good options.

Oh you know it! I'm grateful for the job I have but sitting in an hour and a half of traffic after your 14 hour day does take a toll on you 😴

The money is probably close, but I believe upgrade at Endeavor is much shorter than RAH at the moment.

All that said, I believe that in the long run there will be advantages to being at the wholly owned carriers. Think about it: you'd be flying Delta owned aircraft, and Delta already has a rate for said aircraft in their CBA.

Now, is Endeavor going to be stapled tomorrow? Probably not. But what does that relationship look like 5 years from now? Who the heck knows....

It's really a crap shoot. A good regional today could be a crappy one tomorrow and vice versa. A wholly owned could get comair'ed, but any other regional could also go out of business. It's a hard choice sometimes, but just make a decision with the best information that you have.

Yeah it's a good point. Anyone know if delta planes on flying the CS100's as majnline? Or I wonder if they'd go to endeavor?

Definitely! It's a scary (but exciting) moment for me, hahaha

They will be mainline airplanes.

Too many seats.

This is good advice. Go with the flow or get in line with everybody else.

If you live in NY I wouldn't look anywhere but Endevour. Good luck.

Flow is a silly reason to choose an airline unless you are unhireable otherwise.

Well look at the statistics... Not all of the airlines I mentioned above have flow, but they are the ones who send the most pilots to the respective mainlines. Other airlines don't make up as large a portion of the classes as those. Not to mention as the regional pilot supply is further strangled in the next couple years, I think you'll see more solid "flow" type agreements between mainline and their partner regionals. It will be the best way to secure their feed and their future pilots.

Here's a vote for RAH. I like it here and our movement is steadily increasing.

How would the money be even remotely close? I saw the Republic advertisement and they sneak in per diem and health benefits to their pay and even then it was way under Endeavor first year pay. Do you really want to work for a carrier that would even try to pull that off? Just the fact that they would try that would be enough for me to not even apply. It is unfathomable to me that Republic is able to get a single pilot to show up to class in this environment.

You think republic is the only one doing that?

To make a false advertisement by including medical and per diem in their ads, claiming them to be compensation? Yes, yes they are the only ones doing that....

Per Diem is a reimbursement, not pay
Medical is not included in a salary

Show me one other airline publishing their pay with that included in the figure. Next ad you see for Republic will say "First year FO's make $150,000*!!! (*Including $110,000 valuation of flight benefits)

Show me the ad. I didn't mean per diem and medical benefits specifically. I mean you don't think other regionals exaggerate in their ads? Hopefully one does a bit more research after viewing an ad.

Actually it appears to be a picture of total compensation. Which would be the truth however you like to look at it.


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It is smoke and mirrors.

That's like saying my total compensation at McDonalds is $40,000 per year because I get 2 free meals per day. Would you consider that compensation? I wouldn't.

Having medical insurance doesn't help pay your student loan bill or rent.

It's false advertising.

There. That is a little more believable.

It's not false advertising. It's carefully crafted advertising. It may be sneaky, but it isn't false. It is total compensation. It may not be a dollar figure you see in you bank account, but it is a dollar figure that company puts up.


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No, your chances of being hired at any given major airline do not at all rest on which regional airline you fly for.

There are a lot of things to consider when choosing -- and many of them have been brought up in this thread -- but your question should not be one of the factors, because it just does not matter to the majors when deciding who to call for interviews.

Actually, yes, it does. If you're spending $400/month on a healthcare policy you're paying for yourself on an Obamacare exchange, vs. $100/month in healthcare costs while your airline picks up the other $300, that's $300/month more that you have available to pay other bills.

If you've always had healthcare through an employer, I can see how you'd think like this. If you've ever been self-employed, believe me, the lack of employer healthcare contributions most definitely changes your financial picture.

That's good to hear!

In the old days, I think that this was true. Now, it really does matter. If you want to work at AA, you have to work at one of the wholly owned. If you want to work at Delta, your chances are FAR greater if you work where there is a SSP (unless you have a masters degree and prior military time). United also seems to be really focusing on where they are hiring from.

Within a couple years, expect all of the regionals to be little more than a pipeline to a particular major.

Right now, you can get hired outside of a "flow" or preferential hiring if, and only if, you are special. If you are just another regional RJ FO that is just entering the industry, you don't stand much of a chance.

This is complete BS. OO guys are getting hired by all 3 legacies every month. Yes, even AA. Significant amounts every month to UA and DAL. Hiring is going to continue to pick up. How do you figure the big 3 will get MORE picky in the future on where they hire from?

Of course you are going to say that, because OO doesn't have any sort of an agreement with anyone.

It is really pretty simple. The major airlines really need regional feed. Even Delta will need regional feed. But, their choice to staff the regionals is going to be to raise pay significantly, or to have a flow thru/ssp type program.

If you are GUARANTEED a job at Delta in 5 years if you go and work for a certain company, and you wanted to work for Delta, where would you go as a new FO to the industry? It is common sense. They can pay you crap, you will still go and work there, and then you will move on to Delta.

My post was talking about someone entering the industry right now. There are no brand new FO's at OO that are immediately being picked up at AA. AA will no longer be hiring pilots off of the street in less than a year. The others will be following suit.

The size of the regionals will grow and shrink based on pilots available. The majors will get bigger to pick up the slack (like Delta and United are doing right now), but once regional feed is cheap again, they will slow hiring, let attrition bring down the number of pilots at mainline, and grow their regionals again. The regional pilots are the buffer in the system.

The regionals aren't going away as a B-scale feed. They are just being modified. Flow's will be the only way to get to a major. Wait a few years and you will see.