Corporate Airlines

[belchfire]

There are two possible errors
in throttlejocky's post, and they
probably stem from the fact that
noone really knows what the heck
is going on there...otherwise, a
very good description including the
moral of corpex. No offense to
the author...his disinformation
probably comes from the same
place as mine!

1) Upgrade pay...my understanding
is that you will upgrade to whatever
you are frozen at. For new hires,
that would be first year...$27.50
I think...

(See next post after this...the motel
room policies have become muddied
in an effort to not spend any money
on the flightcrews...sorry TJ, you were
right! edited 12-01-03 BF)

2)What I was told (er, for what that
is worth) is that initial/upgrade/transition
(yeah, transition to what, an AN2?)
motels will be paid for regardless of
base. After all, and especially for the
newhires, they don't know where you
will be based.

Disclaimer: We are talking about the
policies of an airline...anything expressed
here as truth is subject to revision

Hows it hangin probable? I see that I
am in good company lurking in this
dungeon. BOHICA!!!

I want my two dollars!!!

Ha...hahaha

 

[belchfire]

Throttlejocky

I'm sorry!!! I retract my two errors...think that pay will still be frozen at first year, however, I just found out about what they
have done to a couple of new hires!!!

It is completly wrong, and against what was told to one of these
individuals in the interview process, but everyone needs to know!

Management found out that one of the Corporate Airlines newbies
lives about 1.5 hour drive from MQY and come to the conclusion
that (even though they had paid for it for 2 weeks) they didn't need to put him in a motel during training.

He is now sharing a room with one of the other guys, and they are both paying out of their own pockets. This is a Violation of
all previous policies regarding training and housing.

I want everyone to know the training department was left out
of the loop too, and had nothing to do with this.

This is a classic example of what is going on at Corpex, and should be factored into any thought process involving employment

 

[JayDub]

AAAHHH yes, their *cough* "training" department. The only place on earth check airmen routinely get 40% pass rate on their written exams in recurrent. All so one individual can prove his career wasn't a waste by not getting on at a "real" airline like a lot of his buds. Don't get me wrong B.L. is a good dude that has routinely gone to bat for his goslins. The only problem is they wouldn't be in trouble in the first place if he didn't try to convey the material through E.S.P.

At least you'll get twice the opportunity to fail than everyone else. It kindda sucks when you realize almoste half your current Captains aren't qualified like you thought they were. Again though, excellent people in their training dept. They just need a few loose ends tied up and it would be great.

Respectfully,


JayDub

 

[belchfire]

I believe that every employer
has something good about
them...maybe I shouldn't say
it here for fear of jinxing it...
it has to be corpex's training
dept...

it was kind of funny last winter

 

[VADriver]

Here is the "real deal" about Corpex:
If you want to take the chance in order to fly the mighty JETPIG, send in your resume anyway. It won't hurt.
Good Luck!

http://hometown.aol.com/mitch3p/page1.html

 

[belchfire]

The real question is why are they interviewing so many of these
poor suckers???

 

[belchfire]

www.corporateairlines.com

I can't speak from a pilot's perspective, but CorpEx flies mainly to cities out of STL as AmericanConnection using Jetstream 32s. From my observations, the pilots don't seem overly thrilled to be here, big reason I see being pay. CorpEx has been on a pay freeze for a while, but all the pilots tell me its better to have a low-paying job than no job at all. Also, most of the pilots seem to be easy going guys and gals, good to get along and work with.

Prob wouldn't be a very bad place to spend a couple-three years, if they start upgrading people. But what do I know, I'm just a GSA! Oh yeah, and they recently took the FAR AND AWAY best overnight away from the pilots - LAF!



3C Bagslinger

Three Years??? the current time to upgrade!

 

[belchfire]

Any rumors on when the pay will
get unfrozen?

 

[belchfire]

just trying to keep this one on top!!!

Err...Mesa is at least getting their
raises!

 

[upndsky]

I interviewed there earlier this week and had a really enjoyable experience. All the Corpex folks we met were very friendly and went out of their way to make us feel at home. I don't know if I got the job yet, but we're supposed to find out by 12/12. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The issue of pay freezes was brought up. What we were told was that the CFO doesn't like the freezes and that the company acknowledges that something needs to be done about pilot pay. There was the suggestion that the freezes could be lifted in 2004.

The current crop of newhires is to fill attrition (captains to SW and Airtran, FOs to bigger regionals) and possible expansion, most likely a new base in RDU in April. This has been a rumor for some time, but I'm RDU based and all my sources here say that barring a last-minute set back, it is going to happen. We'll see.

We were also told that any additional aircraft would be J-32s or J-31s re-engined to 32 standards. No Saabs or anything else like it. So I guess that rumor is officially dead.

Overall, it seems like a good company to hang your hat for a year or two and get good quality time. I was told upgrade in a year to a year and a half, another guy was told a year and a half to two years (don't know why we got different time frames), perhaps quicker if the expansion happens as planned. There is a training contract but it's only for $6,500 prorated throughout the year. They don't expect you to make a career there and encourage you to move on. All they ask is that you give them a year.

 

[belchfire]

Sounds typical. Beware the Blue Koolaide!

Before the payfreeze, there was the rumor
of the payfreeze for three months. The
next rumor was that it went into effect two
weeks after the CFO's DOH anniversary!

Current pay rumor is that the gaurantee
is going to be reduced to 70 hrs/mo. That
will, for the benifit of any management
spies, go over like a turd in a punchbowl.

My advice to anyone going to work at this
establishment is...don't plan to upgrade.
Get some 121 turbine time and go some
where that gives the rasies, has a contract
and so on. If there were places hiring that
were good move , (Midway looked good
in the day), Fedex, ups, etc., and the upgrade
times were still 8-12 months, and you could
get 1000 hrs in 24-36months it would be
worth it. But you won't. Getting your time
and moving on is not happening! The people
leaving are FO's! In Two-Three years, the
people leaving will be making more than our
CA's, regardless if the pay stays frozen or
not! Even on Mesa's rj fo payscale!

Give them a year, then move on, regardless.
Things are not improving, nor
are they likely to for a miriad of reasons,
including the dedication to the continuing
viablity of the 19 seat market. There is a
sad underlying air that if it weren't for the
employees, that they could make some
money. Being privately held there is no
profit/loss statement, a mortal fear of
unions and contracts or anything else that
costs money.

Corporate airlines views themselves as a
stepping stone for the flightcrews...this
is the company line, period. What kind of
growth can a corporation aspire to with
that attitude toward the employees?

NONE!

I leave you to ask yourself what you can
expect in your relationship with such a
corporation, and beg to remind the gentle
reader that it is a much longer leap to any
other stones than it used to be, and they
are far more slippery!