This. Envoy lags behind most in QOL. No minimum daily guarantee or duty time guarantee, inability to drop trips when needed, hotels, toxic management, training, etc. Career progression is a positive when everything is moving but be prepared to spend 10+ years dealing with the issues I mentioned prior. Some say only come here for a base but the only one we currently have that is not operated by a better option is MIA and that has closed and reopened and will close again at the snap of a finger when AA sees fit. There have been times when envoy was near the top in pay, career progression, but always lacked in QOL.

That being said, is it a horrible place to be?...no, but there are far better options.

This. You have to make sure that where you’re going is a good fit and you can live with that if things turn south while you’re there. You may PLAN to just get in and “get your hours”, but just look at the last 15 months. It WILL happen again, and AGAIN, if you make it a career. It all depends on timing and God only knows what that timing is.

Can you say which options are better? Lots of good info on these forums but it can be difficult as an outsider looking in to map out which are the top regionals right now.

Go where you live in base. No work rule/pay rate at the regional level beats living in base.
If you have to commute anyway, Republic or Endeavor.

Endeavor is pretty obviously the top dog right now by a wide margin.

In a word, NO.

The reason I say this and have said is it depends on the individual.

Are you willing to move and don’t care where you live, or do you have family commitments that keep you where you are? Doing a two leg, off line commute to the “best” regional pretty much takes it out of the running. Someone that lives in a decent sized city that has frequent flights to a certain carrier’s hub is going to have a different perspective than someone in the other coast or lives in a city that is a hub.

You have to look what people say about how much they are flying, availability of OT (if that’s a priority) reserve rules, soft pay, etc. Take those into consideration with the location of bases. You to can have to weigh all the factors to make a personal decision.

And a lot still comes down to a role of the dice. I know guys that were flying a lot, upgraded quickly and making good money and liked where they were at. That was TSA. Depending on when hired and which airframe and base you went to at Envoy have had vastly different experiences.

Thanks for the quick response! I'm about six months out from applying but am planning on moving to wherever the best offer is when it comes up. 9E, OO, and OH seem to be the 'best' options from what I've read.

If you plan to move then OO or 9E are great options. I know guys who work at Skywest and have much better schedules due to better flying they receive from AAG and much better hotels. When envoy pilots are being sent to an airport hotel with zero around for a 36 hour overnight, Skywest crews are heading downtown. On top of that the envoy crew isn't getting paid for that "lost day" because of no min day credit or duty rig. 9E is going to provide good career progression with Delta and offer better pay, retirement, and commuter policy (if needed).

Amen!

I had a good thing going living in base and then NY closed and it’s been 1W ever since to ORD.

Tell your buddy when he reinterviews to still study the gouge on aviation interviews. For me the interview was quicker. Basically what does this symbol mean on the star. When do we need a second alternate etc… couple TMAAT ?’s “why do you still want to work here?” Be warned I’m still waiting for them to complete my background check again. Sounds like it’s averaging about 30days.

When I was there at the HQ, hiring plan was to get furloughed pilots retrained. Then it was the 120 cadets who already have their minimums. Although now it sounds like their combining the cadets with furloughed pilots in classes now.

People like me who had a plain old CJO can expect to get a class date late Q3 or Q4. We shall see.

Does anyone know if they scheduled all the cadets with hours yet for training?