Best Regional - Ignoring Bases

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stablegenius2018

New Member
Hey guys, Canadian over here I'm half native. Pretty pleased to find out recently that according to the Jay Treaty of 1793, I, as a native receive automatic permanent residence in the US.

I should hit 1500 in a month or two, and I'm looking at American regionals due to the superior pay. Everyone who asks this question just gets bombarded with responses of stay in base.

As I don't live in the US currently, I'm down to move wherever the best base at the best regional is.

So, since bases aren't a factor, what is the best regional in terms of pay and upgrade time for a guy like me? Should I go for flow or will the whole diversity business land me in a major at 4000?

Thanks for any input
Ian
 
stablegenius2018 said:
Hey guys, Canadian over here I'm half native. Pretty pleased to find out recently that according to the Jay Treaty of 1793, I, as a native receive automatic permanent residence in the US.

I should hit 1500 in a month or two, and I'm looking at American regionals due to the superior pay. Everyone who asks this question just gets bombarded with responses of stay in base.

As I don't live in the US currently, I'm down to move wherever the best base at the best regional is.

So, since bases aren't a factor, what is the best regional in terms of pay and upgrade time for a guy like me? Should I go for flow or will the whole diversity business land me in a major at 4000?

Thanks for any input
Ian
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If you’re not above flying a turboprop, as soon as you hit 1000 121 at Horizon you can upgrade. FO pay year 1 is 40, year two is 46. Then you will be at 74 as a year two CA.

With that being said I think most regionals are upgrading within 2 years now. Best paying is Endeavor and Republic. Compass and Horizon are next in line. That is going off of hourly rate of course, some regionals have big bonuses that will inflate year one pay but have you wondering why you’re paid much less year two. All of the American WO airlines (PSA, Envoy and Piedmont) are in the 30’s for hourly rates but come with big first year bonuses and that flow people keep chatting about.
 
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JDean3204 said:
If you’re not above flying a turboprop, as soon as you hit 1000 121 at Horizon you can upgrade. FO pay year 1 is 40, year two is 46. Then you will be at 74 as a year two CA.

With that being said I think most regionals are upgrading within 2 years now. Best paying is Endeavor and Republic. Compass and Horizon are next in line. That is going off of hourly rate of course, some regionals have big bonuses that will inflate year one pay but have you wondering why you’re paid much less year two. All of the American WO airlines (PSA, Envoy and Piedmont) are in the 30’s for hourly rates but come with big first year bonuses and that flow people keep chatting about.
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We've been hiring street captains for 3 months at OO. I expect more airlines to do the same in the coming years. But our pay scales are slacking. I'd go to Endeavor if you don't care about base.
 
If you’re going simply by pay rates Ravn/Corvus starts off at $50/hr, and I think they have $15k in bonuses too (dont quote me on that though). Plus you are home every night, if you’re into that kind of thing.
 
No offense intended, but where you are based is ALWAYS an important consideration. I understand that you're willing to move, but the cost of living in some U.S. cities can easily eat up every cent of your first- or second-year pay.

Suggestion: Apply to three or four major U.S. regional airlines (say, SkyWest, Envoy, Horizon, Compass, Air Wisconsin, etc.). Interview. Find a couple you like and research the cost of living in each base. Do NOT make a decision based on current upgrade time or flow-through agreements. These will probably change numerous times before you are in a position to take advantage of them. Find a place where you will enjoy working for a few years.
 
azmedic said:
Endeavor or Envoy


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Envoy for flow? I've got some friends there and they make it vocal weekly how unhappy they are there. Some almost moved laterally they couldn't handle the QOL. We must have some around here at Envoy. Are they the best of the 3 wholly-owned's?
 
alaskadrifter said:
If you’re going simply by pay rates Ravn/Corvus starts off at $50/hr, and I think they have $15k in bonuses too (dont quote me on that though). Plus you are home every night, if you’re into that kind of thing.
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And it’s cold, just like Canada!

As to your question, the AA wholly owneds have that flow to keep in your back pocket. I haven’t done any comparisons recently, but Piedmont is probably the fastest flow of the three.

PSA has some bases with nice cost of living numbers, and most likely an upgrade as soon as you meet the requirements.

Envoy has bases in some larger cities (not counting DFW) that may have higher costs to them. But hat sweet under wing engine autothrottle time can’t be beat (sarcasm in case you missed it)

What’s the hiring like at Jazz or Air Canada like these days?


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Air Canada is doing mostly fine, no major off the street hiring. Mostly military and I think 50% Jazz Flow. The pay is terrible anyways, a first year AC FO will make less as a first year regional captain at Mesa (lol). We don't have the 1500 rule and Jazz will hire you at 250 if you came out of the college aviation programs and have like a 3.8+ GPA. Otherwise, I've heard of people getting hired with 1200 recently. The pay is garbage, like literally 2009 regional salaries including exchange rates.

Will the flow really matter though? To repeat part of my original post, I have a university degree and I am native so will this land me in a major sooner because of the diversity hiring business?
 
stablegenius2018 said:
Air Canada is doing mostly fine, no major off the street hiring. Mostly military and I think 50% Jazz Flow. The pay is terrible anyways, a first year AC FO will make less as a first year regional captain at Mesa (lol). We don't have the 1500 rule and Jazz will hire you at 250 if you came out of the college aviation programs and have like a 3.8+ GPA. Otherwise, I've heard of people getting hired with 1200 recently. The pay is garbage, like literally 2009 regional salaries including exchange rates.

Will the flow really matter though? To repeat part of my original post, I have a university degree and I am native so will this land me in a major sooner because of the diversity hiring business?
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I don’t know if ethnicity makes as big a difference as many claim. I can check the Native box and UAL and DAL aren’t beating down my door (haven’t had the chance to apply to Alaska yet).
 
stablegenius2018 said:
Will the flow really matter though? To repeat part of my original post, I have a university degree and I am native so will this land me in a major sooner because of the diversity hiring business?
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Flow could matter to you for a few reasons:

- Guaranteed movement off the top, meaning that your rise in seniority wil be pretty consistent. That said, there is plenty of hiring OTS at career jobs and pilots are moving onward and upward, meaning your rise in seniority is probably not that much faster at a AA WO with flow.

- Having a job at AA in your back pocket. Getting hired OTS at AA is exceeding difficult for someone with a straight civilian background, because after flows, military, etc, there's just not that many more seats available. Working at n AA WO carrier means that, if for some reason, you don't get hired at a dream gig before your number hits, you still have a good job in your future. Because of the movement here there's also quite a bit of opportunity to get in the sim, LCA, etc.

My thoughts and opinions only. Although perhaps you MAY have a leg up based on your First Nations status (I believe that's the polite way to refer to "natives" in Canada), I wouldn't count on that plus a degree being an automatic in anywhere.
 
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