expressjet, Airwis or pinnacle

[planejockey]

Hey folks I have a student of mine who has been offered a position with those airlines, he was wondering which one he should go with. I can't give him really good advice because I am focused on the military route and dont know too much about the regionals anymore. He is from Greensboro, NC and would like to be with a company with good benefits, QOL etc. BTW he cant post because he is broke! please keep it serious.

 

[QuasarZ]

express jet

 

[Uncle Bunkle]

ExpressJet

 

[Prop Trash]

ExpressJet

 

[ratherbeflyen]

I would avoid pinnacle, quality of life is not so good there right now. I got 2 good friends there, and both say they would have taken jobs with other airlines given the chance to do it over. Air wiskey has a good contract, but morale is kinda low from 100% base changes and they are slow on growth with lots of lifers. Expressjet might be the biggest risk with the branded flying, but also has the biggest potential for reward and are hiring more pilots right now than any other regional. You could 100 pilots deep on seniority before you finish training. If you wanted to go Socal reserve would be really short. The gso commute to ewr and iah would be 1 leg.

my vote.... Expressjet

 

[BoilerUP]

CAL has 5 flights a day to EWR and 3 flights a day to IAH from Greensboro. US Airways does 6 flights per day to PHL and 4 to DCA, all of which are now on AWAC. Considering that, Wiskey might be a good place to be. Sure you'll have folks under you on the seniority list quicker at XJT, but AWAC is about 1/4 their size and neither company is currently growing.

Also do not forget that Chautauqua has a GSO base...commuting sucks!

 

[flyboy06]

ExpressJet...but plan on going outwest for a few months

 

[willNOTfly4free]

Sounds like your friend can't go wrong with any of his choices, except maybe Pinnacle.

Did he not interview at SkyWest? SkyWest is the greatest airline in the history of mankind. It was discovered by the Germans in 1904. It's a fact.

 

[Master Shake]

I believe the quote was:

Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale's vagina. ~ Ron Burgurndy

 

[rjacobs]

The commute out of GSO on XJT to IAH or EWR is gonna be tricky. EWR because, well its EWR and IAH because we dont have as many XR's on the CAL side any more. I have done it a few times in the past month in an LR(seems to be all LR's and no XR's any more) and let me tell you, with a 10k lb fuel load it gets hard. Ive very rarely had the E W&B tell me "exceeds max ramp weight", but out of GSO seems to happen all the time. As far as I know though there are only a couple commuters out of there(ive taken the same guy twice), but weight issues seem to hamper things. Dont expect the actual JS.

 

[veneratio]

ExpressJet

 

[Flyer1015]

expressjet, Airwis or pinnacle

Neither of those. Tell him to go to med school instead.

 

[DiverDriver]

I'll speak up for Air Wisconsin. Yah, I work here. But I know of several that commute in the GSO area and it doesn't seem to be too bad for them. I'd rather have their commute over the one I'm currently doing. Anyway, AWAC is going to need another 100 pilots minimum by the end of the year according to some I know. And I trust their estimates. We are short as it is.

We have an excellent training department and it is not set up to just weed you out. Come prepared and ready to work and you will have respect. There are a lot of great people working at AWAC. We've had a rough transition to the east coast but if you live on the east coast I'd say AWAC is probably a great choice for you to apply to.

Our contract is about average in pay and pretty good in work rules. I know I pay a lot less than others for insurance and it's pretty good insurance in my opinion. We have decent 401k matching.

We have our ups and downs just like anyone out there.

 

[upndsky]

I'd say it's a toss up between XJT and AWAC as far as good companies to work for.

I will say that the GSO commute on XJT is tough. GSO used to be a CAL base and there are still a bunch that live there. Sure, you'd get the jumpseat over a CAL pilot but if the plane's weight restricted (which it often is) that doesn't do you much good. I'm an RDU commuter and we get spill over from GSO folks trying to make it to work or home.

It's also true that most, if not all, new hires are going to the new bases (SAT, ONT, LAX) for a little while. That's not to say that EWR or IAH won't be available when he's done with training. We're short at every base.

On the other hand, at XJT you'll see much more of the country, including Mexico and Canada.

My advice: throw a dart.

 

[Fred Rogers]

Neither of those. Tell him to go to med school instead.

Ha! IT"S NOT TOOO LAAAAAAATTTTEEEE

I would vote ExpressJet, assuming their new flying goes through. -good luck guys

 

[Tchinson]

Express Jet, one of the best regional payscales, quick upgrade, and good QOL

 

[propilot1983]

expressjet, i am biased though.

 

[Speedbird34]

Pinnacle for quick upgrade

 

[J and E's Daddy]

AWAC has good work rules. However, no movement. It will be light years until you can hold left seat. Right now, the most junior CA bid award went to a March 2004 hire date. And as stated before, too many lifers who are going nowhere. Plus alot are trying to get out and interview elsewhere, but many are not so successful. Train dept is very user friendly as long as you are prepared. And a good attitude and honesty goes a long way.

 

[pgcfii2002]

I'd say Mesa.