Airline Pilot Central Forums - Alaskan Pilot looking to commute to regional?

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- - Alaskan Pilot looking to commute to regional? (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/regional/96751-alaskan-pilot-looking-commute-regional.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyingak (Post 2187078)

Also, we have a solid standing with AS for hiring, several of our captains went this year and 2 more going next month for sure, possibly more.

This is absolutely true. Alaska Airlines places a premium on pilots who have flown for the regionals in the state of Alaska.

Quote:

Originally Posted by teddy3412 (Post 2187096)

I'm pretty sure there is a bonus at pen air now and upgrade is supposed to be pretty quick.

$5K signing bonus (at completion of training), then quarterly $3K bonus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OrionDriver (Post 2187305)

$5K signing bonus (at completion of training), then quarterly $3K bonus.

But they don't have a ctp course, so the $5k bonus is basically there to cover that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by snackysmores (Post 2185316)

At Horizon you are seatlocked for 4 years on the Q400, you cannot switch over to the jet as an FO. Nothing will prevent you from upgrading on either the Q400 or E175, however you will need about 15 years of seniority before you could hold E175 captain. So that pretty much leaves just the Q400 for you to upgrade on. The E175 will be strictly reserved for super senior captains and new hires after March 2017.

Why wouldn't a new hire in a jet be able to upgrade quicker than 15 years? The experience on the 175 places that new hire jet FO ahead in line than a "un-seatlocked" Q FO for upgrade? What else am I missing other than the slow attrition of the captains? I don't know the demographic of them, and if we'll see a higher retire rate/attrition rate as the rest of the industry is really starting to see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptSwift (Post 2204020)

90% of our captains are here for life, that may change as things get worse here but for now it is what it is. Our only attrition is from junior captains leaving and FOs leaving for other airlines. We're only getting 13 jets next year so only the very top % of senior captains will get to fly them. Horizon is an incredibly senior airline, we're taking guys with 30+ years walking around.

Jet FOs won't upgrade before Q400 FOs, that's not how the seat lock works. The 4 year seat lock prevents a q400 FO from bidding 175 FO and vice versa, but you're always able to upgrade when your seniority allows it. Since you won't have the seniority to be a jet captain your only choice will be to upgrade in the Q.

However, not only do we have a 4 year seat lock, but there's also a sub item in the contract that says if an FO bids FO on a different plane, they will be locked in that seat for an additional 2 years before being allowed to upgrade.

This makes the effective seat lock 6 years at horizon if you try to switch planes as an FO.

Compass has a SEA base that you could hold right out of training, and upgrade would pretty much be as soon as you get your 1000 121