ASA vs PSA vs TransStates vs Others?

[Flyprdu]

I have a couple interviews coming up, and I wanna get your take on which airlines are the best to work for:

1. ASA
2. PSA
3. Trans States
4. Cape Air
5. Any piston-twin freight ops

What are the advantages/disadvantages of each, and what would you choose?

 

[flygirl556]

I think PSA would be the way to go

 

[FrontierFan]

Yep...I would go with PSA. If you don't care about upgrade then I would rather be in DAY instead of LAX.

 

[Flyprdu]

Thanks, T-dawg

 

[skydork]

PSA you won't upgrade. Ever. And you'll get abused by scheduling(the worst scheduling and reserve in the industry) When you do get a line, you'll have 11-14 days off max. Senior line holders get either 14-15 days off and have been here 4-5 years. Other than that its ok. I have no idea of the others.

 

[FrontierFan]

Trans States just sucks. Freight would be fun. I think PSA would be alright for the first couple of years. You need to hear from those who work there.

 

[flyer172r]

Unless you absolutely have to be in St. Louis or Richmond, don't go to TSA. Reasons have been re-hashed plenty of times, PM me if you want more details.

 

[Flyprdu]

Anybody work for Cape Air out there? what's it like?

 

[Beantown]

I get lots of PSA FOs in the Jump and NONE of them are happy. Many are bailing to other regionals. I would suggest you save yourself a step and a couple years and apply to those regionals (SKY and CHQ, Ect). Good luck. -Bean

 

[ex j-41]

TSA - Worst of the bunch.
PSA - Good training dept and airplanes. Scheduling is abusive. PSA Schedulers will do anything to cover flights. And if that means calling you at 3 am to schedule a 10am flight then so be it. Trips start early and end late. Famous for 7 legs on last day. Your two days off are recovery days.
Upgrade is well.....only if you worked at Piedmont first.

 

[sweptback]

Out of all the airlines you listed honestly ASA is the best of the bunch. We have our problems, which I'm sure you've heard, but there are worse places to be.

 

[bailout]

ASA is by far the best of that bunch..

 

[Flyprdu]

Lot of sob stories out there... let me flip it around. What's the BEST regional, freight, or other airline out there that has the best Quality of Life?

 

[purduej]

ASA is probably the best of those. Assuming you don't have an ATP, Cape Air will place you on an ATR flying in Guam. Not quite for everybody, although my old flight instructor loves it. If you're commuting though, good luck.

 

[79%N1]

If you want to fly coast to coast, Mexico, Canada, and Carribean.....ASA

 

[McNugent]

I'm a junior FO at ASA and I'm fairly happy. Life could be better, but it's been much worse at other flying jobs. I'm holding 4 days with about 12 -13 days off a month, and the trips really aren't bad. I'd give us a shot and disregard all the ASA guys that do nothing but complain...I'm keeping a positive attitude that things can only get better here.

 

[38tango]

You're going to find people at every regional who hate their job. If you are willing to take it for what it is, you should probably consider your quality of life first when making your choice...that is of course assuming you receive several offers and actually have to choose. The one thing I can tell you is that avoiding commuting should be one of your highest priorities. Regardless of what you think, it is a second UNPAID job to commute. Commuters will tell you it's not that bad (coping mechanism), but it is. It wastes way to much of your free time, and it can be very stressful if you live in a difficult city like I used to. I did it for 3 years and finally moved to base a few months ago. It was the best thing I have ever done for myself. Pick a place you know you will be happy living and see who has a base there. As far as the rest of deal, I can only speak for PSA...and here you're going to take around 2 years to reclaim your testicles from scheduling and get off reserve (and the lines suck when you get one anyway) and upwards of 5 or 6 to upgrade. Both of those numbers are optimistic and they also both have seemed to climb since I got here. Other than those problems, it's a great group of guys n gals and I love the flying. The airplanes are decent and the pay is sh!tty but that goes for everywhere. Good luck!

 

[jumppilot]

You need to go to the first place that hires you. You can be selective if you have a flying job already, but if you've been out of flying for a few years, you need to take anyone the accepts you.

 

[paulsalem]

Go anywhere you can live in base, it will make you're life much easier.

Faster upgrade, also means faster time to a better schedule (as an F/O atleast)

 

[jstap1]

I'm a junior FO at ASA and I'm fairly happy. Life could be better, but it's been much worse at other flying jobs. I'm holding 4 days with about 12 -13 days off a month, and the trips really aren't bad. I'd give us a shot and disregard all the ASA guys that do nothing but complain...I'm keeping a positive attitude that things can only get better here.

I have been at ASA for about a year and a half and life is pretty good. In Feb I will be flying Sun - Wed all month and I have 13 days off. I had training last month and our instructor told me new hires are going to LAX but they are all biding right back to ATL. As long as you are not in the last class you will get back. Also you will be Per Diem the whole time you are in training because of the LAX base and that will make a huge difference. I don't know about the other airlines but ASA is not as bad as some here say. I have also heard rumors of our upgrade times coming down to around 2 years but that could be wishful thinking. Hope this helps

 

[doug_or]

Where do you live? Where do you want to live?

 

[flyin'gator]

i'm thinking of a career change and i live in jax. asa- atlanta seems like a viable option as far as commute goes. has skywest made things better or worse?

 

[COOPERVANE]

i'm thinking of a career change and i live in jax. asa- atlanta seems like a viable option as far as commute goes. has skywest made things better or worse?

Unfortunately not better. But it really isn't a bad place to be. I commuted from JAX for a while and it is very do-able with DAL/Airtran and the SAV/BQK backup option. If ALL else fails you can drive but I never had to.

Moral is low at ASA right now, but the job really stays about the same (not bad) If you can handle working around negative co-workers it might be a good fit. It will be better after the contract is settled in 2010. (fingers crossed)