I have finalized my choice to three airlines; Pinnacle, Republic, and SkyWest. I was hoping that a few senior pilots from each could let me know of some of the plus/minus of each are.

Currently I live in DTW, but I am willing to relocate.

You will not be on reserve very long out of DTW if you go with Pinnacle. I would say about a month.

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/sh...ad.php?t=10320

Go there to see some +/- about Republic.

Short term, it's great to live in base...PNCL would be very attractive for that reason only. If you want to look at longer-term considerations SKW and CHQ might be better comapnies, but you would have to chose based on their domiciles.

Are you a CFI or an airline pilot? If you have significant turbine time SKW will probably put you in the CRJ, which has junior bases in ORD and MKE(just opening, but will be junior). If you are a CFI, you will probably get the brasilia, in which case DEN is about as far east as you could be based (you could transfer to the CRJ after one year).

Research commercial flights between DTW and ORD & MKE. These are things to look for for an easy commute:

- The more non-stops, the better.
- SKW non-stops (these will be listed as UAL or Midwest flights).
- Mainline United or Midwest non-stops.
- SWA non-stops.

Get some info from a CHQ person and compare the commute from their bases with the SKW commute.

since you work at pinnacle i guess that you can say that is the best thing we have to offer! First off i really enjoy working at pinnacle. I am based in mem, have been here a year and a half, have 14 days off this month with 94 hours of credit (like 89 hours of block). We hands down have the best pilot group. We are all unified, and are not giving up an inch on our next contract (being unified is the result of getting bullied around). Captain attrition is high (in the last few months i alone have sent 2 guys to southwest, and 3 to fed ex). They are hiring F.O.s like crazy, and upgrading about 15-20 pilots every 2-3 weeks, which isn't enough and the company knows it. If you did stay in detroit then yes you would probably be reserve for 1 month, and that would be it. guys in my class based up there are pretty senior fo's now (dtw is the most junior base, followed by msp, and then mem). Things are also going to pick up around here very fast. Since this is about good and bads of the airlines i wont start up the rumor mill. some of the bad things about pncl, scheduling can be ruthless (while on reserve), second year fo pay is a joke (even in the companies best last and final offer it was 29 bucks, so expect the second year fo pay to go up significantly, union says around 32), we just bought colgan so who knows where that is going, and the min days off is 10 (company proposed 11, union says 12, so it could go either way.) so there you have it. as for myself i enjoy it here, i go to work, fly the plane, and then come home and enjoy 3-4 days off before going again. not to shabby.

Right now I work for CommutAir. I have about 1500TT and 600 Turbine. All our family lives in Michigan but my wife said she would move to ORD or MKE. But she is not willing to go out west. What would the upgrade time in ORD and MKE look like?

I have a good friend in ORD (CRJ FO) and he will be upgrading at his 2 year mark if not a month earlier. You will get the jet if you make it on with SkyWest since you have 121 and turbine experience which means ORD or MKE for you. I chose SkyWest over Pinnacle, AWAC, Republic, and Eagle after doing my homework on everyone. They were the best fit for my family and I. Good luck!

Air Support, thank you for your reply also. I live 10 minutes from DTW and both mine and my wifes families live within MI. That makes Pinnacle very attractive to me. Does it look like everyone is upgrading right at 3000 hours at Pinnacle? Also, I have 1500 tt and 600 turbine time. Will all the 250 hr Gulfsteam hires have to wait to upgrade and hold me in reserve for eternally?

Right now, it's about 17 months, but I doubt it will stay that low for longer than another year or so (unless we get some significant growth, which is possible).

More things to consider for SkyW. While MKE will be very junior, ORD is becoming more and more senior as time passes. DEN, SLC, and COS are junior RJ basses as well, and there are people who are bidding ORD and haven't been able to get it yet. Also consider that ATL could very easily be a large RJ base soon as well. It isn't yet, but our flying there continues to get bigger.