Vegaspilot99 said:
If you had a choice between the two, which do you think would be the better place? Seems like TSA has better work rules and pay, but I like Mesa having a base in Phoenix because I live in Vegas and would like to move to Phoenix. Although STL wouldn't be a bad commute from there either. Thanks.
I have a bunch of friends at both companies, and I work at one of them (Mesa). TSA and Mesa are very similar in QOL and pay, but TSA is marginally better. Both are in the middle of huge growth, so getting on now at the start of a wave of hiring will do wonders for one's relative seniority. One thing that Mesa does have over TSA is a wide range of domiciles; the RJ/Dash domiciles are PHL, DCA, CLT, DEN, PHX, and GJT, with probably one or two more on the way as our United flying increases; the Beech domiciles number right now around twenty, I think, but are pretty volatile. It seems like they sometimes open and close at the drop of a hat. The good thing about the big jet domiciles is volume. There is safety in numbers.
Before getting hired at Mesa I instructed and lived in St. Louis. That's largely how I have so many buddies at TSA. I wanted to work there more than Mesa back in the day when I was applying to regionals, but only because, for me, they were the local favorite. TSA's mins at the time were slightly higher than Mesa (TSA required 200 multi to Mesa's 100), so I just happened to qualify and get the job at Mesa sooner. I don't regret it at all. Mesa's a good place to work in spite of what all the non-Mesa employees on this board have to say about it.
I suggest go with Mesa if PHX is where you want to be based. The downside is that often your equipment and domicile is initially assigned and not selected. You may get something other than PHX, and it might be worse than a LAS-STL commute unless you're willing to move. TSA might sound like the safer thing in this case, but who knows... you might get based at RIC too. Depends on how flexible you are relocating and commuting, methinks.
