Mesa: $50 application fee?!?!?!?!?

[shroomwell]

I started to fill out the Mesa app until I read the checklist and it had at the top of the list, DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR $50 APPLICATION FEE. This is a real screwed up industry when they try to extort $50 out of you so that you can apply to a $1400/month job.

GIMME A BREAK

 

[Cosmo1999]

Just think how much they make off of it!! Lets just say they have 3,000 apps on file which is safe to assume from what ive heard. 3,000 *$50 = $15,000 right in their pockets, pure profit right there. Chicago express has something like a $250 or $300 fee for screening. Thats the way the industry has turned. If you have low time and want to get a job theres gonna be some kind of fee probably....

 

[eaglefly]

Sadly, plenty of turbine hungry suckers will be falling over themselves trying to get their money to J.O. as fast as they can for a slot at Mesa.

He's not stupid. He knows their are more than enough idiots out there who'll be happy to send him their money.

 

[CitationLover]

i know in theory, the $50 covers the background check, etc.

$15,000 in income to an airline is peanuts though, an accounting error. i doubt this is some revenue maker.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Hey,
It's part of the application/selection process. Anyone stupid enough to apply to a carrier that requires a $50.00 application fee, affirms ones suitability to work for sub McDonalds wages.
Hurry quickly apply
PBR

 

[Lou3]

I have much less of a problem paying a $50 application feel than I do about not getting paid/housed for 8 weeks of training...(just my .02 anyway)

 

[chperplt]

You can pay a $50 app fee or an $18K job fee???

 

[pilotyip]

only $38 at USA Jet

Only $38 to apply on line at USA Jet. Application window is open interviewing for a class as early as March of 2004.

 

[sydeseet]

What a bargain, that is a bargain for me!!!!

-Eddie Murphy

 

[jarhead]

Some of you guys have a mathematics problem.....

$50 times 3,000 is $150,000, NOT $15,000

 

[Otto Coarsen]

Just Mesa? ....... Please

First of all MANY airlines have a fee to submit an application to cover a background check...


Actually, Their reasoning is good....... Mesa submits a portion (criminal portion I believe) of the background check for processing PRIOR to the INTERVIEW... This is to weed out douchebags prior to spending time and money getting them to Class... In Mesa ground school, you receive your ID early in the indoc portion of ground school... At the airline I work for, we got ours AFTER our systems test (3 days after) because they were waiting on the results of the 10 year... 2 dudes actually were asked to leave with background problems After the company trained them for 3 weeks as well as PAID and HOUSED them...


What better way to slim down the 3000+ Apps they have, then to know whether or not they will even pass the 10 year. Plus a $50 fee is a GREAT way to reduce the thousands of 200 hour bubbas and people who send 5 resumes a week from clogging up the pile and wasting their time...

And finally.... from up above.....

50 bucks????? gimme a break.. At least they pay you from day one UNLIKE Skywest, ACA, Pinnacle and more that I don't know off the top of my head...

 

[shroomwell]

So does Mesa pay you while in training. My understanding was you had to pay for housing, and that could bankrupt you on that kind of salary.

 

[Otto Coarsen]

Yes...


Paid from day 1.....

You pay hotel until systems test 3-4 weeks, but when split with another trainee, double occupancy style it's like 12 bucks a night...

That won't break me...

 

[c5driver]

$50 bucks?

That's a lot nicer than the $7K for the 73 type

 

[WhiteCloud]

The purpose the $50 serves is to keep people like me, who don't want to work there, from using them for interview practice. It's kind of fun, when you don't want the job to explain to the panel that the problem you had with the female Captain was that she got too emotionally involved and you were just looking to get laid.

 

[nimtz]

Hey,
It's part of the application/selection process. Anyone stupid enough to apply to a carrier that requires a $50.00 application fee, affirms ones suitability to work for sub McDonalds wages.
Hurry quickly apply
PBR

So three years ago when I paid 100 bucks with my American application, I was reaffirming my willingness to work for substandard wages?!? Yeah me and the 10,000+ other applicants AMR had on file back in the good days..

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Hey,
"So three years ago when I paid 100 bucks with my American application, I was reaffirming my willingness to work for substandard wages?!? Yeah me and the 10,000+ other applicants AMR had on file back in the good days.."
So....... was it worth it?
Or was it like buying 100 lotto tickets?
PBR
P.S. Mainline vs regional is a bit different, after the first year you can exist, after the first year at a regional your credit cards are maxed out and the parents get call blocking. Whew

 

[jarhead]

Ok, here’s the deal…….

Airlines do not need any more pilots right now….period. With so many furloughs at major airlines, there is a long ways to go until they all have been recalled. Processing, handling, and responding to applications are a business expenses, and a nuisance that none of them need or want right now.

When the time comes that Kit Darby’s predictions of a “pilot shortage” come true, and you start to see pilot positions advertised in the “help wanted” sections in the classified section of your newspaper, then maybe a fee for applying for a job will stop.

Regional airlines also have thousands of applications on file, for people who have far more than the company minimum requirements. They can pick and choose among the most competitive times, which far exceed the company’s posted minimums.

These companies charge an application fee, because they can! It’s just another revenue stream for airlines with battered balance sheets. Don’t want to pay it? Then don’t apply. Fact is, they don’t need you guys now. Maybe when Kit’s dream comes true, airlines will pay you a bonus for applying and a hiring bonus if they make you an offer for employment.

 

[chperplt]

Airlines do not need any more pilots right now….period

What airline do you work for?? None, right??

Last time I checked there were plenty of airlines hiring now. Let's see.. ATA, AirTran, America West, American Eagle, Comair, Continental Express, Colgan, Commutair, Trans States, Chautauqua, Mesa, Piedmont, PSA, Shuttle America..... and the list goes on and on. All of these carriers are, or in the process of, actively recruting.

Within that list, Mesa ($50) and ATA ($25) are the only two that I know of that charge an application fee. ATA only charges the fee IF they send you an application once you submit a resume. Colgan is mainly PFT right now, with the rest accepting applications/resumes without charge.

Looks to me like there are plenty of airlines in need of pilots.

 

[jarhead]

There are a few being hired, but airlines have ton's of applications on file to choose from. They will charge to apply, because they can! They do not need any more applicant's. Go ahead, spend your money....maybe you'll get lucky.

 

[chperplt]

There are a few being hired, but airlines have ton's of applications on file to choose from. They will charge to apply, because they can! They do not need any more applicant's. Go ahead, spend your money....maybe you'll get lucky

Airlines have tons of applications on file... So what??? Colleges get tons of application each year as well. They charge an application fee too. Did you not let your kids apply to college thinking it was a long shot?

You're not an airline pilot, nor have you ever been, correct? You do not have the same desires and goals as someone who wants to be an airline pilot and therefore should not discourage those that do.. FWIW.. I have a 121 job, two college degrees and do have a clue..

 

[jarhead]

chperplt

Since you ask the question...........

No, I am not, nor have I ever been an airline pilot. Never claimed that.

As long as you have given me your "qualifications" to judge the state of the airline industry, allow me to give you mine.
My sister works in the HR department at NWA, and has done so for almost 20 years. I am very close to my sister (geographically and as a sibling). She tells me a lot of what is going on in the industry. I also learned to read, and am capable of "critical thinking" on my own, without the need for an emotional bias as a crutch to avoid the truth.

Secondly, my son is a seven year captain at the 121 carrier, Comair. I am also very close to him, and he tells me much of what goes on at his company. He is also a sim instructor, and sees how the the rate of new hires is slowing down there as well.

Just as I don't need to be a fireman to be able to tell if the house across the street from me is burning down, I also do not need to be an airline pilot to see what is going on in that industry. You need to deal with the truth in order to make sound judgements. Living in a make believe world, does not alter facts.

The airline industry has always been cyclical in nature, and it is in a big down cycle at the present time. Deal with reality rather than just dreams, and your life will be much smoother. Dreams don't put beans and bacon in your belly.

 

[chperplt]

Jarhead,

I get it now... You are a subject matter expert by proxy.

You may have a good idea of the situation over at NWA.. You may have a good idea of what's going on at Comair.. Maybe I have a good idea what's going on at Comair also.. Maybe I have more contacts in the industry than you and have a better understanding of what is going on right now than you... Maybe I don't.

The fact is that the airline industry is not in a big down turn right now. It was after 9/11, but it's moving in the right direction now. Take another look at my list of who is hiring right now. Take a look at Comair.. How many have they hired in the last two years?? How many airplanes have they obtained in the last two years and how many will they obtain this year? The industry might not be growing in the right place for the 10-15 year airline veteran who's on the street right now, but it's growing nonetheless.

The fact is you're living your airline dream through your son and your sister. Do not pollute the guys and gals trying to make aviation their dream because you couldn't do it yourself.

BTW... What is your expertise? Are you a school teacher or a janitorial technician? Other than have family in the industry, you must do something?

 

[jarhead]

Yep, I do have a lot to do. I sit around and count my cash that I made in business. You see, you little snot nosed punk, I was able to retire at the age of 57 from a very successful business career. I am 63 now, and spend a lot of my free time (which is almost all of it), planning and taking vacations. Next time you decide to get a condescending attitude about someone who happens to have a different view than you, you might want to avoid making wild assumptions about someone you do not know.

As for me "living my airline dream.........." LOL. Never, ever had a personal desire for that. Not once. I enjoyed running a furniture manufacturing business. It supported me well enough to be able to live a life of relative luxury, put my kids through college, payoff a mortgage on a nice home rather early in life. Nice shot about the janitorial career!

This thread was about companies charging money to apply for a job. I posted a view, and you wind up as some sort of amature psychologist. Talk about being an expert by proxy! Better stick to driving airplanes. I hope you're better at that than you are at analysis of people and their career aspirations.

 

[c5driver]

There are a few being hired, but airlines have ton's of applications on file to choose from. They will charge to apply, because they can! They do not need any more applicant's. Go ahead, spend your money....maybe you'll get lucky.

Man, guess I should stop flying now...looks pretty d@mn bleek.

 

[chperplt]

You see, you little snot nosed punk,

Did I hit a nerve??