Do you like working at XOjet?
- Thread starter MOGuy424
- Start date
BEEF SUPREME
Well-Known Member
Well. I had a terrible 3 years there.
The worst: I had to pay a service to restore my credit after XOJET bought a bunch of hotel rooms on my credit card. They issue you a card for expenses but they put it on YOUR social security number. I cancelled the card, the company restarted it without telling me and I had creditors calling me. I didn't check the card statement admittedly but I didn't realize my employer could start a credit line without my permission. I signed for permission the first time, not the second. That is what ultimately restored my credit.
The ugly: The merit based system is still in place to upgrade. This system is all bad. It creates a situation where you need to basically kiss the captains ass to get a letter to move along. There are captains that take advantage of the situation. In fact there are numerous personalities in the "senior captain" ranks that are pretty messed up. There are some retired airline types that maintain an email list to basically trash talk copilots and management. I was on the list and trusted for some time until I got sick of seeing creepy old guys trash talk the new female copilots. One for being a liberal another for being a slam clicker. This kind of talk has a profound effect on someones career. Currently guys will tell you that the upgrade system has moved to seniority based but it isn't, you still need to kiss ass for that letter. Now they have all the worst traits of seniority based and merit based upgrades.
The good: Lots of time flying. Get your time. Get out.
Lots of good info here at Glassdoor. Lately they have had some management types leaving reviews and trying to improve their social media standing. Be sure to read all of the reviews. Its kind of hilarious to watch from a distance:
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/XOJET-Reviews-E229772.htm
MOGuy424
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the information much appreciated. I'm not concerned with the amount of flying as I already do that at Air Wisconsin but I liked the idea of home basing and having more than 3 days off at a time. I'm guessing the 1st and last day of the scheduled 8 are travel days? Do you usually work those days? How does vacation work or if you are trying to get a day off over your sequence or is that even possible?
Thanks again for info.
Thanks again for info.
BEEF SUPREME
Well-Known Member
I actually fly the Falcon 900 that an XOJET management pilot nearly destroyed at RIL. So yeah small world and don't burn bridges and all that. Really I think it is some karmic thing that the universe hand in store for me. I had to sit across a desk for 8 hours and try to convince a pilot that I was PIC material and I got through it. Now I fly the airplane that that pilot nearly destroyed. In the end, because of layoffs I was only able to operate a X as PIC for one rotation. I left once layoffs were finalized.
Depends on where you live. I usually started in Cali at 3AM on day 1. Airlined all day to EWR. Taxi ride to TEB hotel. Get in around 8PM east coast time. Lie in bed until alarm goes off. 6AM show at TEB.
Day 8 was usually a stressful nightmare of up to 3 legs of flying followed by an airline flight home and by the time the drive was over arriving at my house between 1AM and 3AM the next day.
I'm sure there are slight differences in pay now. Maybe XO pays overtime on late arrivals at home. Keep in mind the more you call the mothership to make sure you get paid or get your vacation or sick time the more likely you are to wind up on the "do not upgrade" list.
You have to bid vacay and it is seniority based. After about a year you get enough time to vacay a whole rotation. After 3 years it goes up and by year 5 you get enough to vacay 2 whole rotations. I'm sure all that has changed.
In fact one thing you can absolutely count on is change. Change is the only constant at XO.
Also bro I gotta ask. With that 121 time why not try and move to a major? You will have a much better employment situation than XO.
MOGuy424
Well-Known Member
Just throwing some ideas around man. I will most likely upgrade in a year here but we got our extension to 2018 with American and a lot of people don't see it as a good thing that we had to exercise it (like we had took force our hand to get more flying). I'm trying to get on with a major but it's easier said than done. If this place were to belly up I'm just not willing to start over again at a regional so I'm just trying to gather information and figured if needed a fractional wouldn't be a bad place to hang for a while waiting a call from Major.
Inverted
mmmmmm wine
Stay, upgrade, graduate. Do NOT leave for XO.
If the place goes belly up, collect unemployment while you apply to XO. Upgrade, get the pay bump and fly as a CA, you'll be to a major in another year after that.
MOGuy424
Well-Known Member
Really appreciate the input guys thanks. Did not know the place had such a stigmata with it. I guess I'll Keep Calm & Fly On.
“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”
Winston Churchill
Inverted
mmmmmm wine
Not sure how that's relevant. But NetJets has a full mx facility in CMH. XO is a 10th of the size of NJA, and these aircraft don't hit home base very often. Having a "real MX department" would imply that they are coming home to a base every few days. The handling of MX issues at NetJets is actually pretty darn good. As I am sure it is at XO.
knot4u
Repeat Offender
My perspective is as a previous MX provider for both. Both expect you to drop everything you might have going on to support them at the drop of a hat so they can make a flight but they won't pay for that privilege, and NetJets is worse than XO regarding releasing airplanes, and they complain about paying OT while techs wait on them. I talked to someone that did some work at CMH, he said there were lots of shiny toolboxes and the entire time he was there no one applied a wrench to an aircraft.
knot4u
Repeat Offender
I don't work on either anymore, some people don't mind working between midnight and 6am outside in all kinds of weather. I don't, so I found a better job.
GypsyPilot
Mohawk Town
As somebody that has had a foot in corporate and airline career paths, I got some great advice that set me straight... If you want to be an airline pilot, focus on that. That means staying in that industry, upgrading, networking, and moving on. If you want to be a corporate pilot, same advice. That allowed me to move on from being wishy washy and focus on my airline career.
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
Are you comfortable cleaning up the airplane after an owner trashes it? I have had to clean out dog crap before, no lie. Are you comfortable sitting at the airport, getting delayed because the pax show up late, and then have the pax tell you to go down the road to get roses and champagne because they want to impress their side piece? Happened to me. Are you good with doing your own flight planning, weight and balance, and having to tell Mr. Big you can't take all of his crap (like toilet paper and 12 packs of soda) because you can't fit it all?
BEEF SUPREME
Well-Known Member
That was the easy part. Charter and private flying is hard. There are hundreds of things one can't forget at critical times and they don't have anything to do with completing the flight safely. I never even considered this kind of stuff an issue while working at XO. I was always the first to offer to clean things up or go on a beer run for PAX waiting on a broken airplane. I'm not saying this for Mojo's benefit because he already knows flying charter is hard. If you are making a switch for 121 I could see it being a big adjustment.
This issues I already described above and the MX issues already mentioned make the job even harder and IMO not worth doing.
knot4u
Repeat Offender
I was given RII authority on XO's fleet despite having zero factory training on either aircraft they operate. Previous experience and schools on other types apparently satisfies their FSDO.