Xtreme87

Just out of curiosity, What was their sex and ethnicity?

billyho

They weren't white males in there 30's????? Say it isn't so

Day4mx

I've seen your bid packets. Days off/credit doesn't even come anywhere near Wisconsin.

Name User

Exactly my point...contrast that with the dozen(!) I know at AA, six at UAL and DAL (yes there were more but I didn't know them), and three at Alaska, every single one was a CA. I did know two hired at jetBlue who were F/O's, but they were fairly senior, one was a previous CA, and the other one had a significant resume (he even turned down the job offer from jetBlue).

Nobody is saying there isn't a chance, but the chance is so small it's not worth getting into an internet d!ck swinging contest over it.

Look AWAC is a great place to hang your hat but I completely disagree with "having plenty of time to move on" mentality that people have come to settle for. No, it's NOT OK that you spend 8-10 years (or more) at a commuter airline. Rip the bandaid off, go someplace with a crap contract and fast upward movement and GTFO. The past 15 years was a perfect storm of 9/11, age 65 and the financial crisis.

Nothing is ever going to change, the commuters will always pay crap and offer little job security over their major counterparts. Age 23 is the perfect time to make that move, live a little, and enjoy the single life. I flew with too many lifers who "couldn't afford the pay cut" and too many ex-commuter F/O's starting over to make my head flat from hitting the wall too many times.

The formula is simple.

121 TPIC + LCA letter + 4 year = interviews from multiple major airlines.

billyho

Your upgrade time doesn't come close to Piedmonts either does it? If Wisconsin is so much greater then you shouldn't have to defend it.

billyho

I'll admit our days off suckth!! But our pay isn't bad at all. That pay credit goes up a bunch before I get my paycheck just saying.

But you're right our days off suck!

saab2000

This strategy is not so simple. I know tons of people without any of this getting hired. And tons of people with this not getting any calls.

Age 65 created a 5-year window where thousands of pilots became 'untrainable'.

I racked up about 4000 TPIC during that window and suddenly interest is gone. We've had people go from the right seat here to majors and we've had many, many people upgrade and 6-9 months later they're gone.

1000 TPIC is probably optimal but no longer required and if you get too much higher than that it appears to become toxic.

As to the mainline style contract, we have pretty decent premium pay for overtime flying, decent vacation (trip touching) and trip and duty rigs. I don't know how other contracts are, but ours also has a decent company 401(k) contribution; up to 8% from the company. Some others are as low as 1%. That's a pretty big, and nearly invisible, form of compensation. Health insurance options are excellent too.

I won't get into a p***ing contest with anyone about the contract because that's kinda dumb at a contract carrier, but it's not bad either.

People need to make their choices on what fits best for them and we need to not belittle each other or other companies. It doesn't help our position to strengthen our profession, it only serves to "divide and conquer", which is exactly why these competing companies were created.

billyho

Well said!

statepilot

I am a state government pilot flying a Navajo, making $66,000 per year with a family and I am home every night. That being said, would I be completely brain dead if I considered AW? (And, I would have to commute to a crew base.) I am asking because they sent me an invitation to interview last night. Thanks.

statepilot

Ok, thank you. Do you happen to know how fast folks are upgrading?