ASA or American Eagle?

[jumppilot]

I'd rather be attached to a contract carrier, SKYW/ASA, in these current times than a wholy owned, a la Eagle.

I shared a van today with an Eagle crew and the captain made it painfully clear that Eagle is not the place to be. Consider the outsourcing, COEX losing 69 aircraft (and for all you retards saying they are not wholy owned, they might as well be)...He said Eagle is next.

Anyways, I'm happy where I am. Are you going to be? Tough questions to ask yourself. I'm just glad I made it 4 years ago and not now.

I feel for you.

 

[Swaayze]

Oh boy, Eagle is a safe place to be?? That's a crystal ball statement. I tend to worry/agree that the Eagle Captain you spoke to may be correct. There is no growth and really only potential shrinkage in the future here. The only advancement will be for flowbacks recalled to AA (that will take years to complete, btw) and pilots who leave for greener pastures.

The only downside to coming to Eagle for a MIA base is that if you don't get a class with ATR available then you will not have the ability to transfer to MIA until you upgrade (my honest estimate for today's newhires = 8-10 years. I hope I'm way off!) Eagle is a good place to work once you get some seniority and if you don't have to commute. ASA will probably have a quicker upgrade, and currently the pay is better than Eagle's. Really a coin flip for you I'd think (do you value MIA and no commute or a (probably) quicker upgrade and a few extra bucks?).

Interview with Eagle, take the first class date, and decide whether to leave the first offer for the later one when and if it happens.


Good luck

 

[amcnd]

Let me just say... My early post is what I think but after 6 years at Eagle i felt I had 4 years more to upgrade if AA was going to recall in 06. that being said. SkyWest has a current E-120 CA upgade of less then one year!! you can see that I am happy I left.

 

[AirHead99]

Speaking of where you want to live, what is the status of AE's BOS base?

 

[John C. Holmes]

eagle pilots are slightly less disgruntled than ASA pilots....on top of that, their contract and work rules are better. Upgrade time is probably the only thing wrong with the place...but that could change overnight...

Agreed, I think AE might end up being the place to be sonner than later, apparently AA is taking back 30 a month on the Stuper 80 and they think not every furloughee is going to accept....that would at least get the flowbacks moving (slowly but moving)....in few years alot of guys will retire from AA and even a few flowbacks will burn up at Eagle,,saw it many times as a ramper. Basically if you can get eagle back to a "clean slate" they upgrade will get much much better.

 

[jeroom]

Anyone from ASA here who could fill us up about the current upgrade (even if everything might change overnight...)

between a no commute in MIA with AE and a a few extra bucks with commute at ASA...wait! I don't know, I might have to use those extra bucks to share a crashpad then? no?
Or do you usually don't use a crashpad when commuting, once you're holding a line?

 

[igneousy2]

Search this board for AE stuff, most of it all still applies. As far as anyone saying "upgrades at Eagle are currently X" that is all bullshit as there has not been a NEW Captain upgrade at Eagle since 9/11. I am not counting the flush backs of course. 30 a month is NOTHING as far as recalls go. Only about 1 in 4 qualified for the recall so out of 360 in a year, probably 90 will end up being flush backs in a year. There is currently zero growth at Eagle. I find it hard to believe that the morale at Eagle is slightly better than at ASA. I was hired in 1999, had I stayed at Eagle I would still be an FO, not even close to being a Captain, and trying to survive on 7th year FO pay.

If you don't get the ATR, you won't get MIA, however, one strategy you could use is to bid into a base that is closing. Rumor has it BOS may be closing but who really knows. If you bid one of the CRJ bases, their is a good chance you could get displaced as it seems every six months they are closing one of the bases only to reopen them later. If you are displaced out of your seat you can bid anything in the system that your seniority can hold. Make sure your displacement preferences is for any ATR and then if you get SJU, it shouldn't be long before you can bid MIA.

I've never tried commuting to ATL before, but my experience has been that getting to or from ATL to or from anywhere sucks.



good luck

 

["GO AROUND"]

Right now at ASA the upgrade on the CR2 is about 3 1/2 to 4 yrs. ATR maybe 3 to 3 1/2.

Contract negotiations are still going slow. 12 days of negotiations have produced 1 TA'd section. There are a bunch of sections that are being held up by one word in a paragraph. The mediator wants the contract done by March 3rd, but that is not going to happen unless the company starts actually negotiating and not just passing paper back and forth.

Commuting to ATL is hit or miss. One thing that has come out of our negotiations is CASS is coming to ASA so that will make it easier. It's taking about 6 mnths to hold a line so a crash pad is necessary. $150-200 a month for something livable.

Me personally, the upgrade has always been too long at eagle. It hasn't changed much in 6 yrs, but that could be good for a change. I am happy at ASA, but things could be so much better with a quality contract.

Tough decision, good luck.