Asa

[B190Captain]

Can anyone from ASA share your experience and please tell me about Bennies, upgrade time, quality of life and so on?

I have been called for an interview and would like an idea if ASA is worth it.

Do they offer retirement?

 

[patriotflier]

B190captain,

No retirement 1st off.......Upgrade time is about 6-8 years for a new hire off the street right now......But that could change at any time...IE any portion of the 45 a/c that Delta is deciding which one of the 5 regionals flying under DL Conx. should get them In addition, the movement of pilots to others such as SW, Airtran, Jet Blue to name a few will derease upgrade time. But minimally as a guess would be 4-5 years for a new hire unless something drastic came along.

1st year pay is horrible ($19.02 x 75 hrs), after that ($33.65) it is among the best in the industry. However, until the contract is worked out our reserve is among the worst in the indusrty.

Medical, dental sick time ect is all average if not slightly above average. THe flight benefits are among the best in the business. Free unlimited travel with no yield fare. Very nice comapred to others were you have pay per leg. DL/DL conx is very good and if 1st class is available then it is yours based on senority with other non revs with no additional charge.

Great company to work for but crew scheduling has total and complete control of your life and they ahve no accountability. THus, they make bad decisions regularly and you have no recourse unless they violate the contract or FAR's. Which the contract gives them god like powers. Reserve is 10 days off per month with only 4 golden days. You bid on the GDO's only; the rest of your days are assigned as well as your reserve duty time. Reserve is 15 hours a day unless your duty starts at 12n, 6pm, 7pm. THe regular lines are ok on average 11-14 days off per month. Reserve call out is 2 hours and NO airport standby!

Overall, I have been in the business for close to 14 years and only 2 years as a pilot (all on reserve). I thought hard and long before I applied and accepted any positions in this industry.....ASA was and still is my #1 pick. THere are very few regionals I would fly for knowing the industry as well as I do. Retirement will come sometime down the road after things recover in the industry. Let me know if there are any more questions.

We are the World Champion Patriots!!!!!

 

[speedbird1974]

Do you get paid during trainning? Do you get per-diem? Do they take care of housing during trainning? What airplane is a new hire likely to get trainned in? What is the junior base?

 

[CF34-3B1]

Do you get paid during trainning? Do you get per-diem? Do they take care of housing during trainning? What airplane is a new hire likely to get trainned in? What is the junior base?

Yes, you get paid during training, unless they've changed it you get a guarantee check at 1st yr pay. If you're DFW based (which you probably will be) I believe you get 24/7 perdiem as well (some recent hires feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken) Hotel room provided, the Red Roof luxury resort and casino, across the street from the GO and FSI. My guess is most newhires will be CR7 or CR2 DFW, with a few ATL RJs and maybe a sprinkling of ATR here and there. DFW is the junior base for FOs, but that doesn't mean they won't assign some newhires to ATL.

Best of luck, welcome aboard.

 

[Long Time Gone]

Yes, you get paid......19.02 @ 75 hours guarantee.

You only get per-diem if you are DFW based, not ATL based (don't ask).

You stay in the Red Roof Inn across the street from Flight Safety, which is where some of the training takes place. You get your own room, which is a "business suite" if available (fridge, desk, micorwave, etc). If not available, you still get your own room, just ask to be placed on the wait list for the other room. Bring your car if possible, to go grocery shopping.

From what we've heard and seen, most new hires will likely get the CRJ-700 in ATL. Right now everyone in ATL (to my knowledge) is aircraft frozen, which means that the company will pay by-pass pay to those with a bid in with enough seniority to hold that seat, but the company will train all new hires in those seats instead.

Junior base was DFW with all of the growth there last year. All we're getting (again, to my knowledge) is 15 more -700's this year. Most of them (supposedly) will go to ATL.

Notice how I'm trying to cover my a$$?

Good luck

LTG

 

[patriotflier]

CF34-3B1,

You are correct on all of your assumptions!

 

[Long Time Gone]

Looks like I was 2 minutes too late again......hate it when that happens.

LTG

 

[bailout]

>>Right now everyone in ATL (to my knowledge) is aircraft frozen<<

The only people frozen are the ones that just moved from another airplane in the last year.

 

[73belair]

Other than what has been said 2nd year pay under the current contract is 33.82. Not much more that what was posted, but everything helps. Movement sucks right now.

 

[speedbird1974]

Thank you for all the details. Any information on the interview?

 

[asarjfo]

>>Right now everyone in ATL (to my knowledge) is aircraft frozen<<

The only people frozen are the ones that just moved from another airplane in the last year.

That is correct, only those who have been on the airplane less than a year are frozen.

I think there are quite a few people who will be moving over to the 700 when the slots open up, I happen to be one of them. After three years of holding nothing to great on the 50 in ATL, I can do better and make more money on the 700.

Plus I am sick of the Dothan, Albany, and Macon round trips.

 

[sleepy]

The company can place newhires in the CR7 ahead of pilots who are more senior and have a bid in for the aircraft. Why? Because our contract lets them do it. Many of our CR2 pilots are looking at the CR7 growth in ATL, and the shrinkage of the CR2 lines in ATL, and thinking that they will move over to the CR7 in ATL.

Not so fast my friends, the Company will likely place newhire FO's in those slots. The only opportunity to move to the CR7 will likely be for Captains. How do I know that they can do this? because they did it to me a few years ago.

FYI, on 4th year CR7 FO pay you will make about $36K per year, with another 2K in per diem. Upgrade to CR2 Captain in DFW is around 4 years right now. Upgrade to CR2 or ATR captain is around 6 to 8 years in ATL.

On the latest award, it looks like about 20 pilots just left ATL for the greener pastures of DFW.

 

[crowbar]

Thank you for all the details. Any information on the interview?

You gotta wear a suite hombre

 

[asarjfo]

The company can place newhires in the CR7 ahead of pilots who are more senior and have a bid in for the aircraft. Why? Because our contract lets them do it. Many of our CR2 pilots are looking at the CR7 growth in ATL, and the shrinkage of the CR2 lines in ATL, and thinking that they will move over to the CR7 in ATL.

Not so fast my friends, the Company will likely place newhire FO's in those slots. The only opportunity to move to the CR7 will likely be for Captains. How do I know that they can do this? because they did it to me a few years ago.

FYI, on 4th year CR7 FO pay you will make about $36K per year, with another 2K in per diem. Upgrade to CR2 Captain in DFW is around 4 years right now. Upgrade to CR2 or ATR captain is around 6 to 8 years in ATL.

On the latest award, it looks like about 20 pilots just left ATL for the greener pastures of DFW.

Did you get bypass pay?

 

[sleepy]

No, because you are not being bypassed. I was told that since newhires don't bid (they are assigned to an aircraft by the company), they cannot bypass you. I still wonder how this can happen, but it does.

 

[asarjfo]

A few of my friends were E120 FO's as new hires. They had a bid in for the jet and the slot was given to a new hire. They were paid Jet pay after the first guy passed his ride.

I don't think it will be an issue anyway........ A new hire on the 700 has to go through 50 seat school, pass the check ride, go through IOE then back to training for the 700. I don't think they will have much problem with letting the current 50 seat guys/gals take the one week transition. Seems like it would be easier for all involved.

If they do want to pass me over and pay me for the 700, I am cool with that too!!

 

[bailout]

here we go again..

>A few of my friends were E120 FO's as new hires. They had a bid in for the jet and the slot was given to a new hire. They were paid Jet pay after the first guy passed his ride.<<

How long ago was this? this only happened when the EMB guys were being displaced.

 

[wil]

B190- Congrats on the interview. A lot has changed in the process so I can't answer those questions.
Pay is pretty good (except 1st year) and I have to say that our 401k through JP Morgan (American Century Mutual Funds) is pretty good. The match is .50 on the dollar up to 6% of pay.
We have, hands down, awesome travel benefits. Of course it is standby but domestic travel is unlimited (and once in Europe that is considered domestic!)
Given the state of the industry I think ASA is one of the better Airlines to work for. Of course, everyone's situation is different so depending on family, your budget, only you can make the call. I am coming up on 4 years and have zero regrets. I hope to see you on line. All the best-

 

[RJFlyer]

You only get $0.50 on the dollar in your 401k if you're with the company more than 5 years.

 

[rgd]

I got by- pass pay when I was in the right seat of the EMB along with quite a few others. When a new hire took my spot on the jet, I was contacted by a letter from the company stating that when the new hire that was assigned my spot passed his check ride and was line qualified, I would get 50 seat jet pay. As far as I know, those of us who put in a bypass pay query, got the bypass pay off of new hires. Sure enough, about two months later got a note that showed a pay increase to 50 seat jet f.o. Held that pay until I upgraded on the EMB in DFW. If you want to know what sucked, it was losing Captain pay on the emb the day you showed up for jet class, out of seniority, mind you. Sad, but true.