Questions about PSA

[ex j-41]

WTF?

Moral is at an all time low at PSA.
Why?
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that if you put your crews in the worst hotels N.C. or Alabama has to offer you will piss them off.
No food, beside the airport or highway, in now way will you have any kind of QOL on the road. You will eat all your meals at CLT airport and in 4 months you will rather go hungry then eat a $7 sandwich at quizinoes. (sp?)

In a time when PSA is having it tough to find qualified crews you would think they would try do something to increase moral. But no/nothing. Our Hotels are my biggest issue with the company. They are just plain unacceptable.

I feel for the scheduling dept. THey work hard for what they are given. Bad management is what will kill US Air and PSA. How many flights can they cancel and still stay in business? They can't blame this on the pilots or F/A's.

Which brings me to the next....Flight Attendents.
I heard of the 3 g hiring policy at PSA.
The flight attendents have to fall in one of 3 catagories.
Gay
Getto
or Granny.

THe trailer trash they hire is disgusting. But i guess they get what they pay for!

Come to PSA, drink the kool aid in the interview. But the truth is you will sit reserve and not make much money and live life in some pretty awefull hotels.

 

[norskman2]

Like clipper said, on reserve you can generally move your days around all you want.

How does that work to move your days when you're on reserve?

 

[wanabe_fo]

How does that work to move your days when you're on reserve?

You put in for a reserve day trade. In CLT or DAY they will generally move your days for you. In TYS they are so short right now probably not. Last month they only had one person on reserve in TYS so who knows.

ex j-41 is right though. Do not let me paint too rosy a picture for you. Moral is low, everyone is pissed off at someone or something. The schedules are bad. Commuting to DAY or TYS is nearly impossible. You will generally have to go day before and return day after. CLT does not have that problem unless you are commuting from west of the Mississippi river in which case, why are you considering PSA? The schedulers will constantly change your schedule and hound you (as I have discovered recently for no reason at all). Most of the hotels leave a little (ok j-41, a lot) to be desired. Occasionally there is the diamond in the rough. Most of our hotels have some problem with them ranging from no food nearby, no entertainment nearby, prostitution rings being run in the hotels, to drug sales going on in the hallways. However the company is never going to house us at the Crown Plaza. j-41, you have to admit maybe 10% of hotels are good (MGM), 40% of the hotels are acceptable (OAJ, LIT, MOB, ABE), and the other 50% need to go (CAE, CAK, BHM, FAY, ILM). Funny thing is I was trying to think of the acceptable ones and the bad ones and had to revise my percentages a bit.

 

[norskman2]

Wannabe,

Thanks. I've seen the PSA horror story threads. Sounds grim.

 

[ex j-41]

ya_you know the gotels need work when crews show 45min before show time togo to the airport to get something to eat.

 

[CrewDawg]

You accepted an interview on June 1st and dont know where the bases are, what the pay is, what routes they fly?

You need to do some research !!!!

You would be surprised at how much people don't research. When I was going through college all the people at my school knew was ExpressJet. Then someone, heaven forbid got hired at a freight company people were like why would you work there?

This is the coversation I heard between 2 instructors after a friend got on with AirNet. "What is the name of the company that hired you........AirNet........never heard of it." Really....it's home base is out of an airport that we X-C to all the time, and you've never heard of it? Next your going to tell me you've never heard of NetJets. NetJets...huh??? I give up!

I went to a smaller pilot factory and even they pushed the XJet thing so much that people never looked around at other opportunities. I will note that they are getting better but slowly. But all they know is that it's better than instructing, so I'll take what I can get!! Whatever...less competition for me!

Note: I have nothing against XJET, just people who don't explore their options and think any one place is the end all opportunity. I'm also not all about being someone's b!tch (cough....intern) 9-5, five days a week for FREE!

 

[d328pilot]

However the company is never going to house us at the CrownPlaza. j-41

For years, we stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Crystal City in Washington. Now, the holiday inn that is old and nasty.

In CAE, used to be downtown, right next to campus. Now, 25 min drive to the middle of nowhere.

Just a slight improvement in hotels would sure go to help out morale there.

 

[Mazdarx7]

What are the routes for psa from each domocile? Training Contract?

 

[wanabe_fo]

What are the routes for psa from each domocile? Training Contract?

From CLT just about anywhere in the SE states (MOB, MGM, BHM, FAY, BNA, ATL, ....) DAY and TYS do quite a bit of Philly, DC, and LGA flying to just about anywhere this side of the Mississippi river, as well as CLT stuff. Occasionally CLT crews will get up there but it is rare. Occasionally on the weekends we do a PIT or BOS flight but I have never done one.

No training contract. They tried to do one last year for the CEL guys and it failed.

 

[wanabe_fo]

For years, we stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Crystal City in Washington. Now, the holiday inn that is old and nasty.

In CAE, used to be downtown, right next to campus. Now, 25 min drive to the middle of nowhere.

Just a slight improvement in hotels would sure go to help out morale there.

I hear of the good old days when we stayed much better hotels. Unfortunately this was before upper management USAIR decided not to pay a bunch of people for services render and put the money in their own retirement accounts before the door hit them on their rear end on the way out.

Next time you are in CAE and the old lady is driving you, ask her how much money US AIR owes her. You will be amazed, and she might go a little crazy on you when you ask her. I do not know how I get into the conversation with her one morning but I did and you could just see the steam rising from her head as she discussed it.

 

[Mazdarx7]

Wannabe, Thanks for the info... Another question for you , if you get stationed in DAY or TYS how often are you staying overnight somewehre...Reson I ask is I have family in both Philly and DC so I'd have a place to stay, or is it usually day trips and ending up back in DAY or TYS. Also, do they let you pick or are you pretty much assigned...Thanks again, I know I've got a lot of questions, but want to get the skinny before the interview... Thanks!!

 

[nethan]

You can pick which base you want. It just might take a while to get it. While they are hiring (or trying to hire) like crazy, it shouldn't take too long (a month or so) to get your choice of base. When stuff slows down it may take a while.

Most of the flying out of DAY and TYS (and CLT for that matter) are 4 day trips. In DAY there is one line made up of just out and backs, but the same two people always bid that. As for having family in DCA and PHL, that's great, but it won't really matter as it is rare to overnight there. They are US Hubs and it is very rare that a crew will overnight in a hub. We do have a few though and the DCA ones are mostly long (23 hours or so) and the PHL ones vary. I don't mind DCA so much even though the old hotel was much nicer. The Philly hotel sucks.

 

[norskman2]

You can pick which base you want. It just might take a while to get it. While they are hiring (or trying to hire) like crazy, it shouldn't take too long (a month or so) to get your choice of base. When stuff slows down it may take a while.

Most of the flying out of DAY and TYS (and CLT for that matter) are 4 day trips. In DAY there is one line made up of just out and backs, but the same two people always bid that. As for having family in DCA and PHL, that's great, but it won't really matter as it is rare to overnight there. They are US Hubs and it is very rare that a crew will overnight in a hub. We do have a few though and the DCA ones are mostly long (23 hours or so) and the PHL ones vary. I don't mind DCA so much even though the old hotel was much nicer. The Philly hotel sucks.

Someone had earlier said forget about commuting out of DAY and TYS. Are CLT schedules decently commutable?

 

[wanabe_fo]

Someone had earlier said forget about commuting out of DAY and TYS. Are CLT schedules decently commutable?

On reserve no. They will make you be in base at 5AM even though there is a 8 AM trip assigned to you. Once you are a lineholder, probably 50% are commutable to most places and 80% are commutable to any place we serve out of CLT. There are a few exceptions (Like the 6:10 AM departure for LGA that we do), but most lines out of CLT are the second leg of the day or finish in time for the 10PM outbound bank. Now that we are short we are not serving all airports on the 10PM bank so if you live at XNA then the answer to the question is no, you are screwed and will not be able to commute and have a QOL. So to answer your question it depends on where you are commuting from will determin how commutable the trips are. Best way to do it is go to usairways.com and look at the schedules. In CLT most flights (80% ish) don't start till after 7:30AM and finish by 9PM. There are a good group of trips that start in the early afternoon and finish on the last day in the early afternoon, but this is not all the trips but rather 20-30% of them.

 

[norskman2]

Thanks again, Wanabe!

 

[Mazdarx7]

One last question, for now atleast, on the written, are the questions taken directly from the ATP written??

 

[ex j-41]

Just go to Express jet. Even on Reserve you will get 12 days off. You could be here for forever to get that, and they have a short and long call outs. Longer than 20 min legs. Never more then 5 legs in a day. We had 9 last month. Bottom line is that managment here doesn't want you to make yourself comfortable. They would do everything to save a dime even if it costs them a quarter. You can get fired for calling in sick. But they put us in dumpy hotels, no food nearby, no excercise equipment and do long days, 14hrs plus. When you are abused you will get sick. Then fired for it. Catch 22. Do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. Management here needs to grow up and start treating people properly.

 

[Mazdarx7]

More questions, forgot to ask. how many days a month for psa? During initial training in dayton and charlotte, is it M-F and can you go home, or does the training stretch through the weekend as well? Thanks GUYS/Gals!!

 

[Weasil]

Mazdarx,

Here's another little insight into the difference between PSA and other regionals. At PSA you have no travel benefits and are advised not to non-rev home during training. You will eventually get an ID badge once all background checks are complete but they will fire you if you don't make it back to training on Monday morning. The two other airlines I have worked for both gave you space positive travel to and from home on the weekends (XJET AND SKYW). In fact XJT actually allowed you to become a must ride on the last flight back (meaning they would bump passengers in order to get you on) so that you would be back for class.

You should really look a little further than PSA. It's a miserable place to work.

 

[Mazdarx7]

What about BUddy passes with PSA? Do you get any?