121 experience info?
 

Hey guys, I’m a 10 yr Republic Captain and I live in Denver. I am tired of commuting to the east coast and really tired of flying there. I am considering applying to Skywest with your new part 121 experience program. I am wondering what you can tell me about it and if hired as an FO would I really get paid at 10 captain pay or is it 10 yr FO? Where can I get more info? Would they use my experience and place me in a 175? Is the the company trustworthy with this program? It seems to me that Skywest is a really good company and also taking over the 175 market.

Thanks in advance.

Mtn Monkey

Unfortunately it’d be 10 year FO pay until you upgraded. DEN 175 is also pretty senior on the captain side and even relatively senior on the FO side as well. If you were to go 175 you’d probably end up in a Chicago with all the growth that’ll occur this spring. If you went crj You’d have the ability to upgrade immediately and then you’d be on year 10 capt pay, but it’ll be in ATL for quite some time.
I’d say there are definitely better options out there for you than starting over at SkyWest. Best of luck.

Well, my understanding is that it would be 10 year FO pay to start with. You get the longevity, not the seniority or seat. Though, if you go CRJ, since you already have the 1000 hrs of 121 time, you could take a CRJ CA spot in DTW or ATL pretty soon, and be at 10 yr CA pay. We just had a guy get the upgrade while still in FO training because no one who has the 1000 hours wants to go to ATL or DTW.

Problem is, that's not what you want to do. If you want the west, right now you need about 3 and a half years seniority to hold a CA spot in DEN or COS in the CRJ and 9 years if you want the ERJ. BOI is about 4 years in the ERJ and 5 or so for the other west coast bases.

I imagine if it was important to you, you could talk them into an ERJ spot pretty easily during the interview. That's where the growth is anyway. But, that's also where a lot of the CRJ guys want to upgrade and you're going be starting over at zero seniority.

Now, if you're willing to be an FO for that long, DEN and COS are both pretty junior on the FO side for both the CRJ and ERJ.

In the end I think you have the choice between commuting to lines that a 10 year CA can hold at your airline, the bottom of the bottom schedules for a LONG time as a CRJ CA at SKW in DTW or ATL, or a normal progression as an FO at 10 year pay in DEN in the ERJ.

Commuting sucks, but only you can make that call.

Seriously? Southwest has a base in Denver and hires RJ captains fitting your particular demographic (older, high total time, lots of TPIC, Denver based). Also, United will be hiring many next year and you have a good shot of being hired if you have a 4 year degree. I think with all due respect that you're really undervaluing yourself if you make a lateral move to another regional at the stage you're at in this game, brother. And someone in this thread owes it to you to tell you that straight up.

If you are deadset on coming to SkyWest, you will make 10 year first officer pay under this program upon being hired...the QOL as a junior commuting captain in those bases as you would be is quite frankly nothing to be desired. If you choose to upgrade to captain (and you'll likely win the bid quickly), you'll be stuck commuting to DTW, ATL, MSP, ORD for many years to come. So you're in the same sinking boat of commuting to the east if you come here. Are you ok with being an FO for four - five years before you ever touch DEN as a captain? Because that is what is in store for you. ...

It would be 10 year (max) fo pay until you upgrade.

Caution Denver is senior. It wouldn’t be a quick upgrade.

I might be making this part up but I believe softlanding 1.0 wasn’t guaranteed and had to be signed off on by desk people.
We are on v2.0 and I don’t know if that is still the case. Contact someone to verify before counting on it.

V1.0 was problematic because it applied to returning SKW pilots... not all of whom were apparently deemed suitable for soft landings, based on their previous record at SKW.

v2.0 should be automatic if they hire, ie they're not going to hire you from another airline but deny your 2.0. But get it in writing anyway.

Presumably the OP has a reason for the lateral move. I seriously doubt he isn't aware that the bigs are hiring... it's not that easy to get called, plenty of folks still waiting.

Everyone realizes that our FO scale only goes to 8 years right?

Another good reason why this fellow ought not to throw away 10 years of seniority as a CA at Republic...unless something is going on in their life that immediately warrants their presence at home.

Sure but that wouldn’t be his longevity number.
(Max)

Something to consider.. they are looking for sim instructors in Denver. You may not get based in Denver right away. But if you can get a sim instructor
Position then you will be in Denver all month...