ATA vs. World

[pwhipped]

Who would you all chose? ATA or World if given the choice.

 

[ICTS]

Quality of Life

What are you looking for?

Both are great opportunities, however, there exist extreme differences:

1. Bases (Home base vs MDW/ND/SFO)
2. Schedule ("normal" airline schedule vs two weeks on)
3. Pay Rates (ATA has a phenomenal contract)
4. Retirement



There are others, but this is just the beginning of the list.

Congratulations on having a choice!

 

[George Zip]

Depends a lot on what you are after in your career. World specializes in something that is only a small portion of ATA's portfolio of business.

I really love cruising the globe in a very cool widebody, doing exotic flying and laying over in interesting places. If this is your bag, ATA has a strong but diminishing niche within the company that does it, and your likelihood of getting to do it as a new hire is low (by the ratio of new-hires going into the L-1011 I guess about 5-10%).

World, on the other hand, ONLY does exotic worldwide flying in a cool widebody. It is all they do, and they are growing their fleet and their book of business. If you go there, you are certain to see things and go places you have never thought of. The crews I have met are really cool too.

ATA is my choice for lots of reasons, but the biggies are this:

-In direct comparisons of the widebody charter flying, the ATA contract has excellent pay provisions and time - off protections. From what I understand from the World crews I talk with, they get far fewer hard days off per month. Though I think the base rates of hourly pay at World are pretty decent, the ATA crews that want to can make huge bonuses for selling your days off back to the company (being JA'd a few days into your days off can bump your paycheck anywhere from 30%to100% depending on the trip). SO overall I gather it's a lot easier to bank a lot of extra money here. (We need a World pilot to fill us in on this - I do not know the facts)

-ATA has a wide variety of flying, and when I get sick of jet-lag, montezuma's revenge, and no TV in english when I can't sleep in the middle of the night in some faraway country, I can go fly scheduled service domestically in new airplanes under what I think is a very good contract.

-I smell ATA wanting to do scheduled international service in the future, that will mitigate the wind down of the L-1011 program for me.

On the last point, the L-1011 and the heavy military charter business ATA does is not a certain part of the future. The L-10 will be on property a few more years (only the 500's a a couple 100's are still left), but there are real questions whether or not a widebody charter program will continue past that point. The next widebody on property, if I had to guess, will likely be set up more for scheduled service than charter.

So, in sum, if you are yearning for the adventure of worlwide widebody flying to places other people can only dream about, World is a good way to ensure you do that.

At ATA, you will have an opportunity to do it, but will have a growing established "normal" airline to work for when the adventure wears off.

Good luck......if you have a choice between the two you are a fortunate person.

 

[UpNDownGuy]

I feel I'm qualified to answer this question. I used to work for World (MD-11), and now I fly for ATA (L1011). Please keep in mind that the info I can provide regarding World is about 5 years old.
The two companies could not be more completely opposite. Let's start with the question of pay... ATA FO wages are comparable to World Captain wages. Needless to say, World FO wages are considerably less than either.
How about career expectations? I don't know what the current situation is (any current World folks jump in here), but it used to be easy to calculate your time to upgrade at World. The answer was NEVER. You needed to be REAL senior to hold a line as an FO. By contrast, I expect to upgrade at ATA in 5 or 6 years; sooner if we keep hiring like we have been lately.
How about training? I started with 8 in my new-hire class at World. Two of my classmates were fired during CPT, and my partner was fired after he failed his sim-check. World used to have the industry's worst training program, and the industry's most thorough checking program. At ATA, they were very clear about the fact that they intended to get us through the program. If we needed extra instruction, or more sim time, they would make sure we got it. My new hire class at ATA was 12 guys; all of us are on the line today.
Quality of life? I just met some World guys in FRA. They had been out for 29 days. The ATA max is 12 days (and that is only for the L1011 folks). Otherwise, it's 7 or 5 days. I am pulling "B" reserve out of LAX (12 hours to report for a trip), so I am effectively home based.
I could go on like this for pages and pages. I am obviously biased in my opinion. I chose to leave World, and I wouldn't go back for any reason. I also don't know the current situation there. They may have a new contract by now. I do know that there has been some management changes. I think Hollis Harris has been a significantly positive force there, and I was pleased to hear that Gary Goodpastor is the new DO. That being said, I think if you are struggling with this decision, then you probably need to go to World, because you are clearly insane.

Good luck in whatever you choose.

 

[LAZYB]

Hey, who let him in?

UpNDownGuy

How do guys get on here with these porno names?

But seriously folks...Good guy with good info. I'm happily married (that's my story) and I passed on the World interview. Just depends on what you want out of life.

ATA guys all seem to be ecstatic.

Now how you get an interview, that's beyond me.

 

[UpNDownGuy]

You HAVE to get your mind out of the gutter...porn name indeed. Actually, old screen name from commuter days. By the way, I know where you live...

 

[Bellerophon]

Wow,

I wish I was on that crew. I the captain is making $29,795.78 for the month and the First Officers $18,421.28 each (2nd year pay).

 

[UpNDownGuy]

I don't know, but I don't think so...

Unless things have changed over at World, they didn't make any overtime. They went from the 15th of one month to the 12th/14th of the next month. Or did you guys get a new contract? What are the pay rates these days, anywho? Enquiring minds (and even my addled brain) want to know...