how do the training contracts work?

[F9 Buff]

I know Mesa, Colgan, and Lakes require that you sign a contract that locks you into that airline for 12-16 months or so and if you leave before that then you owe them thousands of dollars. I am wondering how they work.

I hear Colgan and Mesa have a sort of prorated kind of deal where if you leave after a month you pay nearly all of it but if you leave after 11 months then you only pay like 11/12ths of it or something? If you lose your medical are you supposed to then pay them for not being able to work? What if you get fired for no-shows, they cant hold you to the contract then right?

Let's say you get apply at Great Lakes and also Horizon and you hear from lakes first and take the job then after two months of flying at Lakes, Horizon offers too. Can you just perform bad on the job so they fire you and get out of the contract?

Who else requires you sign a training contract?

Can you just sign Donald Duck, or scribble something illegible and say it isn't your signature on the contract?

 

[Nancy Pryor]

Have some integrity!

I know Mesa, Colgan, and Lakes require that you sign a contract that locks you into that airline for 12-16 months or so and if you leave before that then you owe them thousands of dollars. I am wondering how they work.

I hear Colgan and Mesa have a sort of prorated kind of deal where if you leave after a month you pay nearly all of it but if you leave after 11 months then you only pay like 11/12ths of it or something? If you lose your medical are you supposed to then pay them for not being able to work? What if you get fired for no-shows, they cant hold you to the contract then right?

Let's say you get apply at Great Lakes and also Horizon and you hear from lakes first and take the job then after two months of flying at Lakes, Horizon offers too. Can you just perform bad on the job so they fire you and get out of the contract?

Who else requires you sign a training contract?

Can you just sign Donald Duck, or scribble something illegible and say it isn't your signature on the contract?

Can you just perform bad on the job so they fire you and get out of the contract?

Can you just sign Donald Duck, or scribble something illegible and say it isn't your signature on the contract?

I hope this was just flamebait. If it wasn't, you should be ashamed of yourself. I'll bet your parents would be ashamed of you (and if they wouldn't, that might be the problem). Your word is who you are. Let me repeat that: your word is who you are. If you enter into a contract, of any kind, without the intention to honor it, you have no integrity, are nothing but a liar, and are not trustworthy. Even if you think the regional airline you are contracting with is beneath you, or deserves it, or if others are doing it, or if your airline is doing it, or whatever crap you tell yourself to justify it. Your honor begins and ends with you.

Please, do the entire industry a favor and just get lost. Standards are dropping all around despite the efforts of the many honorable employees, the last thing we need is intentional fraud of the kind you are advocating. And if this offends you, tough, I'll be out back if you want to do something about it. The ATP requires good moral character. Here's a newsflash: so do many of your peers.

 

[F9 Buff]

Sorry, I forgot to sprinkle these "wink" and "just kidding" smileys over my first post.

:bomb: :angryfire :beer: :laugh: :uzi:

Insert them where you feel they are needed.

 

[Nancy Pryor]

Sorry, I forgot to sprinkle these "wink" and "just kidding" smileys over my first post.

:bomb: :angryfire :beer: :laugh: :uzi:

Insert them where you feel they are needed.

Glad to hear it. To answer your original question, I heard that only Air Wisconsin and American Eagle don't require a training contract, but I don't know that for a fact - definitely verify that before you make any decisions.

 

[F9 Buff]

I know Whisky, Horizon, and Skywest don't have contracts, but then again, they don't need them either.

In all honesty, the contract isnt really that big of a deal to me. The way I look at it is, I just busted my ass through training to get hired somewhere, I probably don't want to do that again for another 3-5 months and I want to stay where I am at that point.

The thing that worries me is, what if you lose a medical, what if you all of a sudden can't afford to work for low wages and need to get a real job making real money. What if the wife pops out a baby, FO money isn't supporting a family. Do they only collect on the contract if you try and go to another airline using the credentials they gave you in their training or will they try and collect no matter what?

By the way, you seem pretty eager to fight with that "out back" comment. Someone key your car or cut you off on your way home from the airport or something?

 

[ReverseSensing]

I know Whisky, Horizon, and Skywest don't have contracts, but then again, they don't need them either.

Horizon does have "training reimbursement agreements."

200 and 400 is $5,500 with a 2 year commitment

RJ is $8,000 with a 3 year commitment

Agreement amount is prorated if the pilot leaves prior to fulfilling their commitment. The pilot is released from the contract in the event they become medically unfit, pilot is furloughed, company goes out of business, or the pilot is fired.

 

[Nancy Pryor]

In all honesty, the contract isnt really that big of a deal to me. The way I look at it is, I just busted my ass through training to get hired somewhere, I probably don't want to do that again for another 3-5 months and I want to stay where I am at that point.

I see it the same way. I'd be staying long enough, so it probably wouldn't be a problem.

The thing that worries me is, what if you lose a medical, what if you all of a sudden can't afford to work for low wages and need to get a real job making real money. What if the wife pops out a baby, FO money isn't supporting a family. Do they only collect on the contract if you try and go to another airline using the credentials they gave you in their training or will they try and collect no matter what?

There was a thread recently about this on this board. If I remember right (and I haven't searched for it), someone was saying that the company that was furloughing them intended to enforce the training contract because they had been there less than one year. The contract said something like "leave for any reason". So that included furlough, which is not under the control of the employee. Obviously unenforceable. If that was really what it said, it illustrates that some of these contracts are badly written and possibly invalid anyway.

By the way, you seem pretty eager to fight with that "out back" comment. Someone key your car or cut you off on your way home from the airport or something?

I overreacted when I read your original post (without the smilies you later added, I thought you were probably serious). It's one of my pet peeves, as you could probably tell :0 -- don't enter into a contract knowing that you don't intend to keep your word, it makes it worse for everyone after you and it's just plain wrong. No, my car wasn't keyed, if it was it would probably improve its appearance

 

[wheelsup]

In all honesty, the contract isnt really that big of a deal to me.

I singed a 12 month contract as a CFI and stayed until the end of my contract. If I can do that, you can surely stay at a regional flying a 1900.

The thing that worries me is, what if you lose a medical, what if you all of a sudden can't afford to work for low wages and need to get a real job making real money. What if the wife pops out a baby, FO money isn't supporting a family.

Furlough, firing, or loss of medical will release you from the contract. If you leave because you simply can't afford to stay, that's your problem. Now, like another poster said, it depends on the company if they will follow up on the $$ after you leave.

 

[cjcpilot]

Colgan's contract is pro-rated and only payable if the employee terminates employment prior to the contract term. If the company fires you (includes medical/furlough/they just don't like you) you don't owe anything.

 

[boeing747-800]

Training contracts are a bunch of bullshit and those assholes over at the regionals can go screw themselves if they want to enforce the contracts. It's the cost of doing business.