No contract. I'm not sure what's holding them back;
maybe they live in base, and would have to commute
at a different regional?

These new reserve rules came into play after I became a
lineholder as an FO. It's unfortunate that these rules are
what's going to dictate when I choose to upgrade.
If I do end up staying here, I'm definitely going to hold off
on the upgrade until I can hold a line as a CA.

To me it seems like an odd move for them to make when it is a pilots’ (job) market


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It does, but management has shown complete arrogance and zero respect for pilots, and the pilots have done nothing to force management to take them seriously.

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Thanks for the info. It really does sound like the reserve rules suck for commuters. I guess the name of the game would be to get off reserve asap. What are you guys seeing for time on reserve in ORD, MSP, and DEN? I am a mid westerner so those would be my top 3.

Also, can you talk about pay IE deadhead pay, cancellation pay, premium pay as well as family health insurance. Thanks again for the dialogue.

Reserve in MSP is getting a bit longer I think now that they’ve sent some classes here initially and now they’re completing IOE. Couldn’t give you an actual timeframe but I’d say at least 4 months after training.

Deadhead pay is 100%

Cancellation pay is 100%

Premium pay referring to “overtime” had kind of gone away with this embarassing new reserve rule as well. It used to be that an open time trip 72 hours before it started would pay 150% but now it just pays normal 90% of the time.

I would also highly encourage you to never pick up company open time and instead look at crew member posted trips of you really feel the need to work more.

Reserve aside, this place is truly is bad shape. You’d be smart to steer clear of here. 3 months in a row now I have been awarded >95hrs of flying.. for CFIs and others out there, I know that sounds exciting, but it’s not. Trust me. The pay here is industry trailing. Upgrades have even been slowed down quite a bit because we don’t have enough FOs.

I rarely post but am happy to answer any questions. PM or reply

Thanks for the detailed info. Unfortunately if I went by what I have read on APC forums I would never even consider this a career. This is supposed to be a great time to get into the airlines but every company forum I go to sounds like it is “the worst” regional out there. I get it, regionals suck in general but I am willing to suck for a couple years to earn my way. I am a 15 year guard guy with two deployments and probably one more. I can’t think of anything sucking more than being stuck where I am and away from my family for a year straight. Just my thoughts. I do appreciate all the feed back.

I was prior active duty. This is way better than my time in the service.

Many of my friends and acquaintances have gone to Skywest. The big draw is that for a lot of them, they are from Utah and/or want to live there. In recent months, several of my close friends have all gone to Skywest after working as CFIs at a certain school in Arizona, so they're getting that tuition reimbursement. Some of those guys are single so they live at home and commute to their base (which, based on some of the reserve shenanigans, means they sometimes end up all over the place).

But ignoring aspects like wanting to live in a particular base or get a tuition reimbursement, I can't help but think they all go there (and put up with everything) simply because they don't know any better. If you don't know anyone who has worked there for more than a year or two, and you don't read forums like this (with a grain of salt, of course), and you don't compare QOL at all other carriers, they have nothing to compare it to. They get assigned ORD and hope to get SLC some day, they just slough through reserve and everything else, because this is their first real job.

Could you answer my question? Genuine curiousity