Flitestar

Yeah. PM sent...

IFlyFL410

Interesting read the past several pages. I scored an interview last week for next Friday at Virgin. I have a laundry list of questions if you guys are interested in answering them. Thanks in advance.

• How long to hold a line?
• How many are you hiring this year?
• How does reserve work?
• Long call? Short call?
• Reserves used a lot? Seldom?
• Projected class dates?
• Commuter policy?
• How long is the upgrade?
• Are hotels covered during training?
• What is the pay during training?
• Trip rigs? Duty rigs?
• Average line value?

IDIOTPILOT

Still the same interview. No major changes so far. No tie.

Flitestar

Thx.

(Filler)

mosquito

This thread has been quiet for a while. How often does Virgin America have new hire class?

GreatBigSea

Seemingly twice a month since late December.

ShyGuy

Unless hired in the beginning of a given hiring spree, plan on being reserve for at least one year (maybe less, maybe more).

121 newhire FOs.

Short call and long call for SFO, LAX; only short call for NYC. 2 hr callout for SFO/LAX and 3 hr callout for NYC short call. Long call is like most other airlines, day before first reserve day you check the schedule/phone in a certain timeframe to be assigned flying. No airport standby. 75 hr guarantee. 13 days off per month regardless of 30/31 day month. Typically the most is 5 days on, then several days off. A very common example would be 5 on, days off, 4 on, days off, 4 on, days off, 4 on.

They're used. Seldom or a lot depends on base, seat, and time of year.

Seems like 2/month going on since December.

Requires one primary flight and *two* backups that would have gotten you to work in proper time. I think if you get one missed in a year you're ok. I wouldn't want to risk anything on probation though.

Forget the upgrade. Currently it's at the 5.7 yr mark but that's for those hired 5.7 yrs ago (most junior went 11/2011). If you're hired today, unless there's massive growth/huge increase in fleet plan, you will be at the bottom of ~2,600 pilots and have to theoretically be around 1300-1500 on the combined list to hold a CA seat. The combined airline retires ~670 for the next 10 years. You can do some rough math. Bottom line, if a quick upgrade is what you are looking for then this isn't your place.

No. In SFO you are on your own. If you get sims in MIA, then you'll get a hotel.

IIRC, $2,500/month

Haha. To be fair with a predominant transcon network, most pairings are decent.

Depends. If you don't get unstacked (long story), you can hold min time (70 hrs) or try and ask for max (97 hrs). Compared to other airlines, our credit award window is very large at 70-97 hrs.

waterboy

No idea on how long until you hold a line. I think your base will play a major role as well as when you are hired. But we have 5 planes coming this year , and we were supposed to have 5 more next year. Not sure what the deal is on next years 5 airframes

According to an email last month we are hiring 128 pilots this year.

We have short call and long call reserve. 2 hour call out for short call in LAX and SFO, and 3 hours (I think) in NYC. You cover all three airports, but you get a $60 stipend if you have to report to EWR. Long call is 14 hour callout, but I don't believe it's available in NYC. Just SFO and LAX. You are able to "preference" trips in open time on long call.

Hit or miss on reserve on how often you will get used. But plan on more often than seldom.

No idea on projected class dates. They should give you that info at the interview.

Commuter policy sucks. You need to give yourself 3 flights.

Upgrade? Currently it's about 5-6 years. But for a new hire now, I couldn't tell that either. But it could also be about 5-6 years. The company talks about doubling in size over the next 5 years. But I don't know what's supposed to double. It could be seats, could be the regional flying, could be revenue, it could their operating profit margin, or it could be actual mainline hulls...

Hotels are not covered in training. UNLESS you do you sims in Miami. Then you get a hotel, rental car and per diem. If you are stuck in SFO, they will give you a rental car to share with your sim partner. Lodging is on your own.

Pay was $2500 a month. Not sure if that's still the case.

No trip or duty rigs. We do get 3.5 hours of pay for every 24 hours we have on a layover. But other than that Work rules are pretty much non existent at Virgin America. Not even block or better. And block out doesn't start until push back hits a certain speed. Oh but in 2014 they reduced that speed by .5 knots. That was a bullet point in our compensation package that year.

I don't have a good answer for avg line value either. Sorry. It's pretty much what you want. Some guys bid the min of 70 while others want 95 hours on their line. A few times a year where we have flex months, and the min guarantee jumps to 75 hours for lineholders.

This is place is a fun place to work, but an awful place to pick up a paycheck from. You'll fly with the best crewmembers here, and report to the worst management team. Hopefully it gets better with Alaska, but I'm not holding my breathe. With that said, Good luck. LOL.

mosquito

Thanks. I submitted my questionnaire last week let see if I get an interview.

VirginA320

I interviewed 4/6, got the call 20 mins after leaving. Class date 5/22. were 13 in the interview. not sure who all made it out. my timeline below.

3/28 apply
3/29 assesment
4/1 call for interview
4/6 interview
4/6 called after for a class date.

hope that helps anyone cheers