Quality of Life at Island Air?

[Alaskaairlines]

Can some of you guys at IA post some info on quality of life at IA?

Whats pay like, how long is upgrade, what are the trips like,?

Also, where do you guys fly, how long are the flights, routes, etc.....

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Life is good

Although I'm pretty new here and don't have any other 121 regional experience to compare it to, I'll give you my take.

QOL at Island Air is great. It's a small company with the current staffing of about 52 pilots. That's nice because you know everyone you fly with. There are only ten bid lines per month, so if you do the math, you can see there are plenty of folks on reserve. The good thing about that is, in two bid months here, I've gotten every day off I have wanted.

The pay stinks: 19.14/hour for 1st year F/O, 37.41/hr for first year Captain. (Contract gets renewed this year).

Upgrade has been rapid here. Pretty much seems like as soon as an F/O has the required hours, they move up. There's been a shortage in upgrades by seniority, so the last few classes have hired a couple of guys nearly into the left seat. In our class, two of us were trained in the left seat, got the type, then did IOE in the right seat for 100 hours and are moving over to the left seat next month. As long as Aloha keeps having classes, vacancies will occur. There is no flow-through agreement, but all Island Air folks will usually at least get a look.

There are no "trips" to speak of-anther positive. Everyone is home every night.

We are based in Honolulu and fly to Moloka'i (sporty at night), Lana'i, Kapalua (3k ft rwy with a nice, sporty crosswind/burble) and Kahului. The flights range from 15 to 25 minutes each. The lines run from 6 to 10 legs per day.

Not a bad gig at all. I feel quite fortunate. Now, off to the beach for another rising south swell...

 

[LowPassBob]

How many hours a month have you been flying?

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

I'm new, so the hours I've flown/month aren't a true picture of a month of flying here. Looking at last month's schedule, F/O line holders were scheduled for an average of 78 hours with the extremes being 73 and 85.8. That's spread over 18 duty days.

 

[LearLove]

How long to get a hard line as FO and then after upgrade as Capt. ?

6-8 legs per day, 25-35 min legs and home every night, sounds like the old Allegheny.

 

[Alaskaairlines]

Sure sounds like a nice place to be at!

 

[Nalo Boy]

Just depends, upgrades are usually happening in about 12 mos. F/O lines in about 6 to 8 mos. Ive been flying for 2 mos and am 4 from a line. Upgrade mins just went up to 2500. They ay not stay there though

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Nice avatar, there T...

 

[jenga]

....you guys are killing me. I cant wait to get a class date.

 

[HerrJeremy]

benifits

What travel benifits do they give you and your family? Do they extend them to Aloha flights back to/from the mainland?

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Good travel benefits

You and your dependents (spouse, parents and dependent kids) are eligible for non-rev travel on Island Air and Aloha and interline airlines with agreements. We have extensive reciprocal jumpseat agreements.

You can buy up to ten discounted coupons per year, each of which can be given away as gifts.

Pilot passes (10 per year) can be given away and can be used only on Island Air.

Perfect passes (earned by having perfect attendance in a quarter) are good on both Aloha and Island Air and can be given to anyone.


the bennies are good.

 

[Nalo Boy]

hey Hugh!

HUgh!
Its your hombre Juan Jeremy

im in Cartagena CO. Chillin with las mujeras. Wish you could see this. Chill a cold brew for me...ive got some stories to tell. "me tiengo el grande pistolo"

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Las cervesas esta muy frio, amigo.

 

[HerrJeremy]

req's

The website for IA says the mins to appy are 1500total, 500ME, and the ATP written. these seem pretty low to me, on average what kind of stats do new hires have there? What would you recommend to be compettitve, especially for an off-islander"