This is a long, but mostly informational post about Piedmont compared to the rest of the regionals. I honestly don’t mean this in a negative way or a chance to bash anyone at Piedmont as I have several friends that have worked and still work there. This is simply meant to be informational for potential new hires. I’m currently at PSA so this is from a PSA perspective, but I also have a decent understanding of life at Piedmont from reading these forums and also talking to current Piedmont pilots over the years.
In my opinion, quality of life at Piedmont is easily the lowest of the AA wholly owneds and most likely the lowest of all other regionals as well. If it was close, then maybe the faster flow at Piedmont might be worth it. But in my opinion, the QOL differences are substantial. First, reserve sucks pretty much everywhere so I’m not going to touch on that. Once you’re a line holder though, its a completely night and day difference and almost like working for a totally new company. Ive read even the senior pilots at Piedmont will only credit around 75 hours each month with only 11-12 days off a month. At PSA, if i only want 75 hours i will easily have 16-17 days off a month. This month for example I started with 78 hours (before premium pay factored in, more info to come later) and 17 days off while only working one Sunday. I commute from the midwest and all my trips are commutable. No hotels needed. Even if I was junior and got the crappiest line I would still have 15-16 days off after our SAP. If I was junior and also willing to work the weekends I could still get 16-17 days off. So basically every month a junior line holder at PSA will have almost a WHOLE WEEK OFF MORE than even a senior pilot at Piedmont while crediting the exact same. You could literally commute from Hawaii or even Western Europe for PSA and still be home more than a senior pilot at Piedmont who lives in base. To put that into perspective, over a year’s time a PSA junior line holder will have 2-3 more months off at home than a senior Piedmont pilot. Let’s say things go back to normal and pilots spend an average of 5-6 years at a regional before moving on. Over that time span, a piedmont pilot will have spent a whole YEAR more away from home than someone at PSA. And honestly, if you went to Skywest, Endeavor, or Republic your days off will probably be even greater as their trip credits are usually higher than even PSA. And again, that’s just in a 5-6 year time span. Just think of all the traveling, or anything else you could dream of doing with another whole YEAR off.
Also, if the APC rates on here are correct… FOs make the same, but Captain pay is $10-$12 higher at PSA. So basically a PSA pilot will have another whole YEAR at home doing whatever they want, while also making about an extra $900 per month or $11,000 a year as a Captain. And that’s just with crediting 75 hours. You can work more if you want. At PSA you earn 125% above 75 hours, and 150% above 85 hours. Ive heard of triple premium at Piedmont but this is contingent on staffing. We have critical pay at PSA which is 150%, but also contingent on staffing. Now that flying is coming back, I would guess triple premium and critical pay will become more common once again. My understanding though, and correct me if I’m wrong, but triple premium at Piedmont is day by day and you have to add the flying to your current schedule. Critical pay at PSA is trip touching. So basically as long as one day is critical… the whole trip pays critical. And its also very possible to trade a regular trip for a critical trip so your number of days off stay the same. For example, this month my regular credit started at 78 hours and 17 days off, but I worked a critical trip earlier this month. I will admit this involves luck sometimes, but I have a decent understanding of the contract and was able to plan for critical ahead of time. Now I still have 17 days off, but now I’m at 110 hours of pay. If i want to, i could drop 2 days later this month and ill be at 19 days off and still credit 100 hours. I understand you can’t always plan for triple premium or critical pay, but the core argument is that even if you just fly 75 hours and don’t do anything else you will still enjoy a whole YEAR off more at PSA or even several other airlines while also earning $11,000 more per year as a captain.
One last point is that Ive heard people say, “well ill just deal with the suck and I’m willing to work more at Piedmont just so i can boost my logbook and apply to the majors sooner.” This doesn’t make any sense to me. I mean yea, you’ll be gone more at Piedmont but that doesn’t translate to more hours in your logbook. If you’re willing to be stuck with only 12 days off you’re entire career at a regional then why wouldn’t you just go to PSA, Skywest, Endeavor, or Republic and put 90-100 hours in your logbook every month compared to just 75 hours at Piedmont? And actually, you would probably still have 13-14 days off at PSA once you hit your 100 hour flight time limit.