May you point those details?

 

I know you are a block or better guy and that is valid but what are these lots of other little details?

 

Question: RAH made a big deal about no junior manning during interview. Had a guy from Air Wisconsin in there with some horror stories over last year with JM, he was looking to make switch to RAH. How is JM at SkyWest?

 

All guarantees apply to reserves. All rigs/guarantees based on actual, not scheduled. There is no LCO, if a trip gets broken up, each day still pays MDG. Uniform and luggage allotment is much better. Vacation/sick accrual is better. Per diem is higher. Staffing is better. PBS is better.......the list goes on. This is off the top of my head.

 

Exactly, well stated!

 

Both good choices right now..From a business strand point SkyWest looks to be selling XJT. While Republic seems to be in the buying market. That could delay a upgrade or good schedule if you got caught at the bottom of that...

 

If upgrade is essential to making it to a major and you really must have ORD, RAH will never get you there unless the upgrade time to hold ORD as captain changes significantly. When I left in May ORD was an 8-year base to hold captain and was shrinking on the captain side. Many majors are hiring regional FOs these days if you have the right qualifications, so you may be able to get away with it if you have the degree (with good grades), volunteer time, good recommendations, etc.

I loved my time at RAH. The QOL was outstanding. After about 1.5 years I always held 17 days off, all weekends off, fully commutable lines with 80 hours credit in ORD. The most legs I ever saw in a day were 4. At the time no Skywest guy could tell you that. Their senior guys were still slogging along getting 14 maybe 15 days off and working their butts raw with 5 to 6 leg days. That being said their contract has gotten better so someone from Skywest will have to chime in on whether this is still the case.

 

That is great information, I appreciate the insight. I don't think either is a bad choice based on everything that has been said... Just if the bottom falls out and I got stuck at a regional, I want it to be one that gives me the best QOL if I ended up spending many years there. Don't want to be that guy that was from Air Wisconsin in a horrible mood telling me he went to the wrong regional and trying to hit reset.

Appreciate the insight from everyone.

 

I would recommend trying to obtain a copy of the contract at RAH and a copy of the pilot policy manual from SkyWest. The many subtle differences add up quickly.

I would argue that SkyWest PBS is at best very user un-friendly.

The training contract at RAH is hands down better when it comes to scheduling times. No training at 4a or going to 2a.

And then there's reserve, gotta love those 4am calls from CS only to get to the airport by 6am and find out they are missing some other crew member that will get there at 11a. Love it!

You might also want to see how many pilots have been fired at RAH, SkyWest just fired 2 pilots that made a mistake on a missed approach (pretty low). Their ASAP had been accepted.

 

Remember this was an F/O. I was a 14yr guy barely holding a line in ORD, so if you upgrade you'll likely never see ORD unless things have changed since I left.