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Is there a good regional??

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Jamis81

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 6, 2004
Posts
74
From everything on these forums and in the news it sounds like Comair is not a good airline to go to, because they are losing their airplanes. ASA is not a good airline to go to because of contract problems. Pinnacle and Mesaba are not good to go to because they are part of the Red Tail family. American Eagle is not a good one to work for because of the extremely long upgrade time.
I could keep going. Just looking for people's opinions on this. Are there any good regionals to go to? If yes which ones? If no, then where should someone go?
 
You'll find that no regional can provide everything.

If a regional sucks @ss, it will give you the quick upgrade you desire, because everyone leaves.

If a regional is great, the upgrade will take forever because no one will leave it.

You'll have to find your in-between that provides some of everything.
 
Plus the regional that might be the Top Dog this year, could end up in the middle or near the bottom the next year!! Most airlines run thru cycles! Just a matter of getting there at the right time.... Roll the dice!!!!!!
 
ASA - no contract in sight, good if you like ATL
AWAC - "we're never leaving DEN"...except bases are now PHL, DCA and ORF
Big Sky - hiring street CAs for Boston, who is Big Sky again?
Colgan - continuing to grow but upgrades slowing, low FO pay
Comair - the former leaders taking cuts in pay and airplanes
Eagle - forever upgrade, probably most stable
GoJet - don't get me started...
Horizon - good pay, long upgrade
Lynx - new startup, low pay for a 70+ seat airplane
Pinnacle - 2 year upgrade, low pay, working on contract, redtail stepchild
Mesa - worst contract and CEO in the industry
Mesaba - long upgrade, recent concessions, redtail stepchild
Piedmont - good pay for equipment, where are the Q400s again?
PSA - long upgrade, poor pay/workrules, J4J
RAH - 2 year upgrade, rapid growth has left company overextended
Regions - great crews, flying yesterday's airplanes into tomorrow
SKW - quick upgrade, crappy probationary pay
TSA - Hulas...enough said
XJT - 2 year upgrade, crappy bases, hope that branded flying works out

...did I miss any?

Bottom line - find the place that best meets your need of location, pay, upgrade, QOL...knowing the odds of meeting all criteria are slim to none. And one more thing, no, its not as bad as it seems reading on here.
 
BoilerUP said:
ASA - no contract in sight, good if you like ATL
AWAC - "we're never leaving DEN"...except bases are now PHL, DCA and ORF
Big Sky - hiring street CAs for Boston, who is Big Sky again?
Colgan - continuing to grow but upgrades slowing, low FO pay
Comair - the former leaders taking cuts in pay and airplanes
Eagle - forever upgrade, probably most stable
GoJet - don't get me started...
Horizon - good pay, long upgrade
Lynx - new startup, low pay for a 70+ seat airplane
Pinnacle - 2 year upgrade, low pay, working on contract, redtail stepchild
Mesa - worst contract and CEO in the industry
Mesaba - long upgrade, recent concessions, redtail stepchild
Piedmont - good pay for equipment, where are the Q400s again?
PSA - long upgrade, poor pay/workrules, J4J
RAH - 2 year upgrade, rapid growth has left company overextended
Regions - great crews, flying yesterday's airplanes into tomorrow
SKW - quick upgrade, crappy probationary pay
TSA - Hulas...enough said
XJT - 2 year upgrade, crappy bases, hope that branded flying works out

...did I miss any?

Bottom line - find the place that best meets your need of location, pay, upgrade, QOL...knowing the odds of meeting all criteria are slim to none. And one more thing, no, its not as bad as it seems reading on here.
Click to expand...


WOW, you got them all..the one I worked for was awesome (ACA) for the time they were ACA and not Independence Air. But, like a lot of things in life, a great thing gets screwed up and now we are gone. I like your bottom line though, it really is a personal preference. We had a good contract, one of the highest pay, great commute policy, and nice guarantees, but none of that matters when you have bad managementand poor planning.
 
WSurf said:
Plus the regional that might be the Top Dog this year, could end up in the middle or near the bottom the next year!!!
Click to expand...


You mean like a certain US Airways Express operator based out up northern New York that used to pay guys $60-70K (1990's dollars) to fly Beech 1900s, with bases all over the northeast?

:D
 
CA1900 said:
You mean like a certain US Airways Express operator based out up northern New York that used to pay guys $60-70K (1990's dollars) to fly Beech 1900s, with bases all over the northeast?

:D
Click to expand...

Yea really!!! Forgot about that, 10 Years ago an airline could pay 60-70k to fly 19 seat airplanes!! Jeez, go figure!! Talk about going backwards!!

As for ACA! Your right, what a great bunch of folks!
 
I've always known you have to take the bad with the good in the airlines, But I'll tell you what, you read half of what is on these posts and it seems like the regionals (the next step for me) unless I stick with the Part 135 route are just a terrible way to go. Any thoughts out there on which regional would be the best to work for?

Also, I've been hearing through the grape vine that Colgan is opening up a CMH base. Does anyone know if that is true?
 
It's all a gamble. When I was first hired the grass was green. Upgrades in a couple years ect. Then 6 months later I was furloughed.

You'll have to weigh all the options...where do you want to live ect. If it doesn't matter then you'll have more options.

Good luck!

I have no regrets. It's aviation you have to love it...otherwise it's a foolish career.
 
Chase the fastest upgrade, get hur done, and then move on down the road. The fastest upgrade is the regional of the month. They all suck for a career.
 
well, besides trying to find a wage that you can live on. I would say find a short or no commute. QOL means a lot when you can be assured that even though it looks like we can expect some amount of steady hiring at the majors, its not a given in the next couple years. So if you go somewhere real crappy, in the attempts of leaving quick with some PIC, when you finaly are done suffering for a few years, and you want to leave, who is to say the industry is not going to be "down" again.

Live in the now, plan for the future
 
Jamis81 said:
From everything on these forums and in the news it sounds like Comair is not a good airline to go to, because they are losing their airplanes. ASA is not a good airline to go to because of contract problems. Pinnacle and Mesaba are not good to go to because they are part of the Red Tail family. American Eagle is not a good one to work for because of the extremely long upgrade time.
I could keep going. Just looking for people's opinions on this. Are there any good regionals to go to? If yes which ones? If no, then where should someone go?
Click to expand...

Short answer, no. Long answer, nope! I would stick out the 135 job until I had enough time for a frac. JMHO. Good luck!:beer:
 
CaptO'Brien said:
Whats a quick upgrade for a regional considered? two years?
Click to expand...

Yeah, two years is considered a fast upgrade.

I upgraded 2 years ago after being at the regionals for a year and a half. I would definitely recommend biting the bullet, taking the fastest upgrade you can find, and getting out of there. The only reason you should not take this advice is if you plan on spending your career at a regional. If this is the case, find the one with the most stable conditions (i.e. code shares, pay, benefits, etc.) Notice I didn't say "highest," I said most stable.

Good luck!!!
 
Your best approach is to figure out what's most important to you and then look for the regional that gives you more of those things. They are all a compromise on some level.
RR
 
NJA airlines me around a lot, so from a passenger / former regional pilot, here's my opinion:

MESA: Things in your control: You guys really need some professionalism instilled. I know your airline suck$, but that's no excuse for looking sloppy, playing tag in the jetway, and flying nearly 3 hours with never turning off the seatbelt sign (not even a ripple of TB).
Your PA speaks volumes about your crew, and usually is pretty lousy and ametuerish (I think I just made my first spelling mistake). Your flight attendants are usually lazy and poorly kept, and crew interaction seems nonexistent. That being said, I had a flight from PSP to PHX that sticks in my mind because it went as well as any major, but the CA was about 45 and the FA was a young happy asian gal who was either new or was really just that nice. The FO made me feel that there WAS hope for young kids to be good airline pilots. But that was the only time I actually had a goodflight with you guys.
Things you can't control: Your planes are dirtier than a garbage can. If the newspapers, puke bags and crumbs must stay, at least wipe the 1/4 inch layer of forehead grease off the windows.
Facilities (jetways, heads, etc) are always filthy or broken. And your gate agents where the "daddy" carrier is not present are usually just plain mean.

XJT: Seems to run as good as any major airline. If the employee group is unhappy, it's well hidden. Clean birds and good interaction between pax and crew.

PCL: Somebody teach the new guys when and when not to use spoilers...they are not a primary flight control. Having 90% N1 and 50 degrees of boards is not good flying.

Eagle: I like them, seems to run well, and good appearence of the crews.

TSA: Used to work there, and thankfully NJA will not allow them to be used.

Mesaba: Only did y'all 3 times, but seemingly a good job. One would never know the screw job mgt did to you.

Remember that the pax generally are (for lack of a better word) ignorant on many things that have to do with flight. For example, if the seatbelt sign stays on...tell them why, and remind them occasionally so they don't think you forgot them.
Mesaba did something that impressed me. We were going on the mighty SAAB, and it was weight restricted. This was communicated well. The ticket counter person explained, it the gate agent explained it, and so did the crew. By the time we were flying the pax were talikng about "oh THAT's why they say the flight is full and there are empty seats. All those times I thought they were lying..."
So you can see where a little can go a long way.
Something we used to do at ACA was give a quick explaination of what was wrong if there was a MX delay. The pax were happy to know what was wrong (especially in today's cost-cutiing mentality) and that you were not risking their lives to save a buck. But with JO, that may be the case...
It's easy to forget that the pax don't know a lot of things about flying, and you need to remember this. After all, it is a SERVICE industry.
 
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I love working at Eagle, cant think of any place that I would rather be. the upgrade time is dropping quickly, pay is great, bases are fantastic, equip is new.
 
siucavflight said:
I love working at Eagle, cant think of any place that I would rather be. the upgrade time is dropping quickly, pay is great, bases are fantastic, equip is new.
Click to expand...

Please report for your drug screen. You are obviously on crack.
 

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