Astar Interviewing.. need info!

[Flex]

got a call to interview. Any input? Is the upgrade to the right seat really 5-6 years? What's the future? Growth? Is flying over guarantee common? What are schedules like? 6-8 8-6, what is it? Mostly domestic or international? Sorry for so many questions.

 

[AV8OR]

Be yourself, it's not a high stress thing other than what you self-impose.

Upgrade right now is 5-6 yrs. Kinda sucks, but it ain't bad coin in the mean time.

What's the future? It can be read plainly in the tea leaves.

Growth? Again, who knows? You find out something in the interview though, you let me know.

Flying is prob avg. 70 hrs.\bd 13 Periods a year.

Schedule depends on the equip but standard is 7 on-off.

72's and Busses, Domestic, 8's do the intl. flying.

Time to go to sleep..good luck.

 

[Flex]

Thanks for the responses. I'm very leary about being a FE for 5 years. For UPS or FedEx, sure, but Astar? Not sure. Is it that good? I guess what I want to hear is why someone would sit sideways for five years... unless it's worth it. Is it? What's the B plan like? How does that work? I was told they are getting 3 more 727s this year. I still can't get over the 5 year upgrade to the right seat. Is that for real? Any help would be appreciated. I've got an invite to an interview, and I'd hate to take it from someone who would really want it. I'm still skeptical.

 

[Airbus300]

If you are worried about the 5 year upgrade, I would then pass up the interview. I've been with Astar for over 5 years, and it will probably be another 3 to 5 years before I get my chance to upgrade. We already had one corporate guy interview, accept the job, and then not show up for training. If you are happy where you are at, I would hold out for UPS or FEDEX....to be honest with you. This could all change quickly, but I doubt anyone getting hired today would be a first officer 5 years from now.

 

[LarryinTN]

Flex,

Something that is important to understand about airline hiring is that the upgrade times at the time you are hired are almost guarenteed to be different from the upgrade time you will experience yourself.

For upgrade times to remain constant the airline's hiring rate must change in proportion to the change in the size of the pilot force. The reality will be that your upgrade time will likely be quite a bit different from what it was when you were hired. Longer? Shorter? It's impossible to predict.

At the moment there is very little movement at either Astar or ABX due to the upcoming consolidation of hubs and elimination of overlapping routes. What will happen in a year or two is anybody's guess. If DHL succeeds in building market share in the US market then there could be new airplanes and accellerating upgrades all around. If not, then there could be furloughs at one or both airlines.

Hiring tends to go in cycles so ideally you'd want to be hired in one of the first classes at a company that hasn't hired in a number of years. That would put you at the beginning of the hiring wave and you'll advance quickly even though the guy a few number ahead of you may have been stuck on reserve at the bottom of the seniority list for years.