Colgan?

powellgal

powellgal

New Member
I've been reading through the posts here about Colgan and am trying to get a picture of what it would be like for their new hires at this point in time. My BF is currently waiting for an interview date and I was just wondering what it may be like if he gets the job. Any insight would be great! Thanks :)
 
Although this does not really pertain to your boyfreind, you can see what life is like as the Pilots wife/husband at Jetgirls.com. Kristie is the administrator here and there and coincidentaly is Doug's wife:);)
 
If he gets hired into the Q400 life will be busy. If he gets hired one thing going on his side is that he will be out of training around the June timeframe when we will have all 15 (maybe) airframes on hand and the schedules will start to be more or less set and thing will start to calm down. He will be on the bottom end of the seniority list so he will likely not see more than 14 days off on a good month although he will not sit reserve at all. He will be able to hold a set schedule but who knows how good of one it will be. Unless you plan on moving to ORF, EWR, PIT or BWI then he will be gone more than likely 4 days at a time and the trips are not built commutable unless they just happen to end up that way by chance. He will possibly need to commute out the day before his trips and possibly not be able to come home until the day after so if it is a 4 day trip with 3 days off he will end up with 4 full days away from home, 1 half day on the front end and 1 half day on the back end and then 1 and a half days off because of the commute.

This is what you can expect from Colgan for the time being as a new hire. Actually you can expect that at almost any airline but I know that about Colgan for a fact. Any particular questions ask away and im sure we can come up with some answers for you.
 
JA Yawd Bwoy said:
Although this does not really pertain to your boyfreind, you can see what life is like as the Pilots wife/husband at Jetgirls.com. Kristie is the administrator here and there and coincidentaly is Doug's wife:);)
Click to expand...

Hey thanks, I'm a member on jetgirls, but I was more so wondering what life would be like for him. :)
 
USMC-SGT said:
Unless you plan on moving to ORF, EWR, PIT or BWI then he will be gone more than likely 4 days at a time and the trips are not built commutable unless they just happen to end up that way by chance. He will possibly need to commute out the day before his trips and possibly not be able to come home until the day after so if it is a 4 day trip with 3 days off he will end up with 4 full days away from home, 1 half day on the front end and 1 half day on the back end and then 1 and a half days off because of the commute.
Click to expand...

So in reality if he gets the job, are you saying it will be nearly impossible for him to commute and he'll need to move? Or am I misunderstanding what you meant about the trips are not being built commutable?
 
You can also expect to have no travel bennefits as his girlfriend. Colgan Q pilots have no buddy passes on continental or any flying done with the Q. That means if you want to travel with him or join him on an overnight, you gotta pay. I have a buddy going through SIM training now and he loves it though. Say's everyone is nice and the airplane from what I've seen jumpseating is up there with a jet.

It all comes down to Job Security and Quality of life though. If you live near one of their bases and you can afford the low pay, Colgan is just as good if not better than everyone else.
 
He will NOT have to move although it would increase his QOL and of course both of your QOL (quality of life if you didnt know what that meant) if you moved with him to a base. Plan on getting EWR since that is pretty much where everyone will be going now.

What commutable means is that say you have a 3 day trip for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Friday you would have a show time for work at say noon or so for example. On Sunday you would have a duty off time of say no later than 5pm or so. What that means is that you would have the ability to leave for work on a early flight on the first day of your trip and then go home on the last day of your trip. What this means is that a 3 day is actually a 3 day and not a 5 day. Colgan from what I have seen does not really build commutable trips unless it is by chance.

My trips this month are almost kind of sort of commutable but are very risky. I have 0940 showtimes with my last days ending around 6pm or so. I can definately commute home on my last day but the first day only gives me 2 chances to get to work before my showtime and that is with zero delays or cancellations so it is a risky commute.

Life is not all that bad but I am senior in the airplane for first officers so I have a slightly better pick of lines or schedules. He will be fine, there are thousands who have done it before him and thousands that will do it after him.
 
Number30FTO said:
You can also expect to have no travel bennefits as his girlfriend. Colgan Q pilots have no buddy passes on continental or any flying done with the Q. That means if you want to travel with him or join him on an overnight, you gotta pay. I have a buddy going through SIM training now and he loves it though. Say's everyone is nice and the airplane from what I've seen jumpseating is up there with a jet.

It all comes down to Job Security and Quality of life though. If you live near one of their bases and you can afford the low pay, Colgan is just as good if not better than everyone else.
Click to expand...

Unless it's changed since I've been married, you can list a doestic partner on Colgan.. aka, you. Same travel benefits as a wife, but you have to pay imputed income.
 
Not for CAL only on the US side. You still get buddy passes for Colgan flights but not sure if that applies to the connection side or not.
 
TUCKnTRUCK said:
Unless it's changed since I've been married, you can list a doestic partner on Colgan.. aka, you. Same travel benefits as a wife, but you have to pay imputed income.
Click to expand...
It's this way on the Continental flying. Continental owns the seats and makes the rules as they wish. If you fly the Q400 you get no buddy passes exept on Colgan flights (not including the Q400). You can only designate your wife or husband as your partner and you have to provide proof of marriage.
If you fly either on the Unided or US Airways side of Colgan then you get buddy passes and can designate domestic partners.

Also, as a Colgan Q400 pilot for Continental you are designated as SA5 (space available class 5).

At Expressjet you are SA3 and get,
1. Vaccation Passes
2. Designated Domestic Partner-SA4 'Still better than Colgan employee :)'
3. Buddy passes-SA5 'equivalent to Colgan employees'

That being said, if a Colgan pilot tries to take a seat on a Q400 Colgan flight and there is only one seat left, even an EXJ employee's family member will take it before him even though that's his company's airplane. That almost sounds too stupid to be true but it is.
 
Number30FTO said:
That being said, if a Colgan pilot tries to take a seat on a Q400 Colgan flight and there is only one seat left, even an EXJ employee's family member will take it before him even though that's his company's airplane. That almost sounds too stupid to be true but it is.
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me???
 
powellgal said:
I also was curious about what is going on with Pinnacle and Colgan to date.
Click to expand...

ALPA won the scope clause, although company is claiming it does not apply.

It'll take a while, but looks like the seniority lists will be merged, just a matter of time.

It'll most likely at least be weighted towards Pinnacle since Colgan voted down the union...
 
powellgal said:
So does this include pilots who are jumpseating and trying to get to work because they have to commute?
Click to expand...

At every airline I'm aware of, jumpseating is considered the lowest priority of standby passengers. There may be an exception out there, but i'm not aware of it.

However, when we're jumpseating, we are asking for the cockpit jumpseat, and that has a priority list of its own. As long as the actual jumpseat in the cockpit isn't occupied by the FAA, or another higher-priority pilot (another complicated story), then it's ours. If there happens to be a seat in the cabin, we take that instead...

Oh, and in management's eyes, a pilot doesn't "have" to commute, he chooses to commute and the airline lets him.....
 
Jumpseating is different because it's at the Captain's discretion but when there's more than one commuter which is very common that's when it becomes an issue. There's only one jumpseat and it goes fast.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top