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Jetblue Competitive Times

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propjok

Member
Joined
May 23, 2002
Posts
7
i have a question. i interviewed with jetblue back in jan 2001. made it all the way to the final review board before i got shot down. was told that i needed some pic time. since then i have upgraded in the dash 8 and i am coming up on a 1000 pic. 5000 total. do i have a chance of getting called in for a interview or am i just dreaming.
 
propjok,

Not a soul on this board has a crystal ball to knowingly say whether you have a chance or not to interview. However, I'm sure you realize the experience of the pilots currently in the application database. As soon as you get the minimum requirements, appy. Then, update your app as often as you feel is necessary. Eventually, I would think you will get the chance again. Good luck, be patient and keep the faith.
 
My question is why would they waste your time and theirs interviewing you when they knew you didn't have the time they were looking for? Just wondering.
 
you know that is a really good ?. at the time i think i had about 3700 tt no pic time. i was the only guy at the interview without any pic time (121). i think they were calling anyone who met the minimums at that time. i was just wondering if it helped that i already interviewed and made it all the way to the final review board. i would think my backround and ref. were all ok.
 
If you are interested in working there, you should keep your application updated, but I wouldn't hold my breath for anything to happen anytime soon. I interviewed there in June '00. It was one of my best interviews ever, but I guess it wasn't good enough.
I had about 7500 hrs with 1000 hrs of turbine 121 PIC.
As I approached the 6 month mark, they raised the bar to 200o turbine PIC. When I got about 2000 turbine PIC, Dean Melonis? told a friend of mine who was trying to help get me in that I needed 2000 hrs of jet PIC. He made it clear that turbine PIC wasn't good enough. I was getting close to upgrading into the EMB jet when I found out that JB upped the bar to Airbus time being a unwritten requirement. That's the point where I went to plan B and went to a different carrier on my list.
My friends who work at JB tell me that they are hiring alot of military pilots and guys with plenty of time from the Boeing and Airbus line. They haven't heard of anyone coming from the regionals. I'm only speculating, but I believe that they stopped hiring the regional pilots because their upgrade program had about a 40 percent failure rate. That's just my guess.
Now that I'm in a Boeing, I voiced my hopes to a friend that maybe I'll be qualified and will retry in a year. He told me that he really doesn't think it's going to happen, given the current trend of people they've been hiring. That's the point where I became a bitter pilot.
I'm not trying to tell you to give up, as things over there seem to change on a daily basis, but I wouldn't withold myself from any other opportunities that may pop up for you.
I'm sure I'll forgive them someday and try again. By that time I'm sure I'll have enough of the right time. But with my luck, they'll probably tell me that I have too much time.
Good luck!
 
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My brother, he's a pilot there. I also personally know another five pilots there who turned down the upgrade because of this. I'm sure the pass rate is up now, but these guys are senior enough and still choose to bypass. They all agreed on the percentage of failures and tell me that there's alot of FOs who turned down the upgrade too. There's also three captains who I know who told me that there were some problems with the training dept as far as upgrades.
Since I don't work there, I have to take their word on what goes on there. But as you and I know, line pilots aren't the most accurate source of information, so maybe it is bs.
 
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Opportunity Passed

You want to get hired by Jet Blue, get hired by USAir, get some Airbus time, then jump ship. That's what a lot of others have done.

Hiring military? I haven't gotten a call. Early on that may have been the case, now I think it's just very high time dudes from other airlines. One got hired and now he's getting all his buddies in.

"That train pulled out of the station long ago."
 
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ACWild,

In one upgrade class several months ago, an unusual number of candidates failed. There was kind of a panic reaction among FO's for a little while since the upgrade seemed impossibly difficult, but that was more perception than reality. The company instructors determined that a few FO's weren't ready to be captains after only 8 months and were kept back for 12 more months. That's all.

It had nothing to do with their backgrounds, since they were from all different backgrounds. So the speculation that JB has stopped hiring regional pilots because of upgrade problems is completely false. There have been fewer regional pilots hired lately because there are a lot of furloughed pilots from major airlines out there who have a lot of experience. It has more to do with the available pilot pool than anything else. Regional pilots are still being hired, but they are the really high time pilots. I don't have exact figures.

CCDiscoB,
That was a particularly clueless (and tasteless) post. The US Airways pilots that JetBlue have been hiring have all been furloughed. They didn't "jump ship". Considering that more than 1000 pilots just at U are out of work, with likely more on the way, that should maybe clue you in that they aren't hiring at the moment.

Also, nobody at JetBlue is "getting his buddies in". The interview selection process is completely automated, and will accept no input on from employees on who gets called. If you get an interview, chances are good you'll be hired, regardless who is pulling for you. Please get your facts straight before you post.
 
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Jeff G,
I stand corrected, thanks.
JetBlue used to hire a broad mixture of pilots, basically saying that they are looking for a type of personality. Now it seems like they are only hiring guys who have flown the biggest equipment. That's where I got my speculation from and I know it's weak.
As far as who's getting called for interviews, you're the first person to tell me that any regional pilots are getting called. That's great news.
From what I've heard about the past few months hiring, it sounded a ratio of 60 percent civ (furloughed USAir and others with some pretty large jet exp.) and 40 percent mil. Do you know what the background of the current new hires are? Thanks again.
 

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