Hi guys,

Got offers from PSA, Envoy, Air Wisconsin and Republic. I'm 43 and I got a BS and MS in engineering. My priority is logging as many hours as possible in the first two years. Quality of life can wait. It's a bit depressing hearing all the negative stuff from pretty much every regional except for Endeavor which isn't an option since I can't wait till late summer to start training.

I'm still not grasping how the whole scheduling works (pbs, sap etc.) except that seniority is what rules it.

Constructive criticism is welcome.

Thanks.

Hi

I've seen your posts over there in the Envoy forum as well. As a PSA pilot I might be a little bit biased, but of course was once looking at making a similar decision.

My point of view:
Air Wisconsin: A good airline with a good contract and a good sign up bonus. What kept me away from it was the fact that the United contract is only for 5 years. They are only flying old 200s and what happens after the 5 years? If the oil price increases or the economy tanks - the 50 seaters are the first to go. Of course you can see people all over the forum telling pilots that in a couple of years they are going to be at a Major/Legacy no matter what. If that's true... Only the future will tell. If you don't want a legacy (AA, DL, UA) but are also OK with Spirit or Jet Blue after some 121 time - they both have bases in FL.

Republic: Their contract seems to have some nice perks in it. The E175 is a nice airplane and they have the Miami base. But as it looks right now.. Holding MIA as a base will take a couple of years. Upgrade times are also longer than at Envoy or PSA

Envoy: Compared to PSA... Envoy has currently (PSA Pilots are negotiating...nobody knows what comes out of that) the faster flow and a MIA base. However reports are that Envoy is overstaffed on the FO side. That might be for a reason (maybe they are expecting some big growth in the future) but for the moment it puts a lot of people on reserve). They are understaffed on the Captain side but with all the hiring of the last year(s)... that might be not for too long. That's the reason imho why they only offer bonuses for Captain qualified applicants and not a outright better Captain payrates.
Envoy is giving airplanes to PSA (around 1 CRJ a month) and Piedmont, but they are also reactivating older Embraers out of Texas. Maybe they are getting more 175s in the future (more than planned when the Compass contract ends?). Nobody here knows...
Bonus at Envoy is a little bit higher compared to PSA.
I heard that it's difficult to get MIA as a Captain for Envoy (not validated rumor).

PSA: If you look at the latest Base updates: PSA doesn't have much of a reserve in Dayton. Holding a line there is 4 months after date of hiring. That's pretty much just out of training. With a line you should be able to fly more than being on reserve. But Dayton out of Florida would be a two leg commute... Which is a big QOL issue. However, imho AA travel privileges make it easier to do a 2 leg commute than with UA or DL travel benefits. And it would be only for a couple of months until you can hold DCA, CLT, or the new base PHL. All of these bases have lots of flights from FLL or MIA. But it depends where you live in Florida. Commuting out of FLL or MIA might be difficult as there are lots of non-revs on these flights. Personally, so far I never had a problem.
The SAP system with PSA is a great quality of life (QOL) tool - but it requires to hold a R1 line.
I personally don't mind commuting, but lots of people here will tell you that you should choose a regional based on their bases first. I disagree due to the SAP at PSA...but that's my personal idea. Every pilot should look into different regionals and then make an informed decision on whatever suits best for one's personal needs. There is no one fit for all and nobody can look into the future.

I hope I could help a little bit with your decision making. Ask any questions or send me a PM.

SAP as we know it is going to go away with PBS.

What that means nobody knows because our Union can't (won't?) Talk about it. Based solely on LoA 11 I'm very very pessimistic about it being good. LoA 11 has horrible "unintended" consequences due to very poor language.

Basing a decision to come here for a relatively long time - 7 years to flow - based on SAP is a very bad idea.

I agree with you. It's possible that SAP goes away and I wouldn't base a decision based on flow alone. In 7 or 10 years lots of things can happen. I'd rather treat it as a backup and it provides some movement on the top seniority. Everyone should still apply to other airlines and not bank on the flow. However, if AA (they have a Miami base) is your primary goal... It's getting more and more difficult to get hired at AA outside a flow, unless you have a good military background.

Most important question: where do you live, or want to live?

Minimizing the pain of commuting should be your first priority.

I would not select PSA. You can make a lot more money at some of these other regionals and build flight time to get on with a better company. Also the schedules are not very good. The SAP could go away as we know it. Also, when you get a line in Dayton with 11 days off and SAP more days off then you are losing pay. So you get 15 days off with 60-70 hours pay. I know guys at Endeavor that are getting 18-19 days off with 90-95 hours pay. Plus you get 1.5x pay for anything over 85 hours there.

I actually live in DR so I'm screwed to say the least in that regard. Miami is a second home cause of all the friends and family I got there. Same in Orlando thought I'd prefer the first. It's one of the reasons why I was initially obsessed with Envoy. Of course lil'l did I know it was a pipe dream being based there for the time being...

But with Envoy you will eventually see Miami. You'll never see it with PSA

True. I guess Envoy it's still my best option mostly cause if i don't get any soon gigs at the majors the flow should always be there as cushion. Republic has great jets and they are also in Miami but not being wholly owned by the big ones makes me a bit uneasy especially at my age.

If you live in the D. R. and you chose PSA, you're likely looking at a THREE LEG COMMUTE to AND from work. D.R.-MIA-CLT-DAY/CVG/DCA/ORF.

If I were you, I'd take the offer which involves the easiest commute. Commuting is hell. Three leg commuting will be a special kind of hell.