Jazz Vs Sky Regional

[Stinky]

So, to sum this thread up:

Jazz is a utopia where everyone is in a constant state of bliss. Each night their pilots go to bed and say a little thank you to the gods of ALPA.

Sky Regional is the very definition of hell on earth. Everyone is miserable and should consider a job as a Walmart greeter as a step up.

Somehow Jazz can't seem to shake the reputation on here that it is a career destination. That may have been true in the past but the reality now is that all regionals in Canada are nothing more than a stepping stone. Regardless of where you go, your schedule, compensation, upgrade times and flow to AC are roughly the same.
Flying on a modern automated jet to Dallas, Houston, Atlanta etc. seems a bit nicer than the possibility of flying a crappy old Dash 8 to Sudbury or Val D'or in February.

Most guys aren't going to actually have to make a choice, whoever calls first is the one you go to. Whatever you do, don't use the info on this thread as your tool to decide. The information here is extremely biased and pretty questionable in its accuracy.

[confusedalot]

So, to sum this thread up:

Jazz is a utopia where everyone is in a constant state of bliss. Each night their pilots go to bed and say a little thank you to the gods of ALPA.

Sky Regional is the very definition of hell on earth. Everyone is miserable and should consider a job as a Walmart greeter as a step up.

Somehow Jazz can't seem to shake the reputation on here that it is a career destination. That may have been true in the past but the reality now is that all regionals in Canada are nothing more than a stepping stone. Regardless of where you go, your schedule, compensation, upgrade times and flow to AC are roughly the same.
Flying on a modern automated jet to Dallas, Houston, Atlanta etc. seems a bit nicer than the possibility of flying a crappy old Dash 8 to Sudbury or Val D'or in February.

Most guys aren't going to actually have to make a choice, whoever calls first is the one you go to. Whatever you do, don't use the info on this thread as your tool to decide. The information here is extremely biased and pretty questionable in its accuracy.

Yep, that's just about right. I was there for a while, at the end of my career. As far as commuter/regional/second level carriers are concerned, not a bad place to be. As usual, the bad apples will undermine the place, but, at the end of the day, most if not all are good people doing a good job and living their lives. It's a job, don't forget that. And yes, you have some very experienced types in the place, that's a good thing.

And furthermore, absolutely, doing the flying that skv does is by far, more motivating than "the others".

Val d'Or in a classic. Chicago (and other places) in an up to date airplane. You choose. I've done both.

Total compensation, Jazz wins. Pull out your calculator, you will see that it is not by much. Not sure about the Jazz pension plan, but pretty sure it is not the gold plated AC defined pension of days gone by.

And as far as winning the big red lottery, any place you are, it still remains a lottery. No guarantees. Big Red employs, what, 20%-30% of the pilots in the industry?

[bobcaygeon]

I've been to those "hotspots" like Atlanta, LaGuardia. etc for the same $$$ as going to YVO on Dash8. You can have it. LGA is cool once, after that it's just a headache.
Status pay makes that decision easy.

BTW I've been stuck in Houston because we couldn't deice in addition to the many, many delays due to thunderstorms.

But I'm simple like that.

[rudder]

Lots of those YVO destined pilots comfortably make $150k+/yr and will be retiring to 6 figure pensions. But I guess flying shiny planes to cool places for less pay/pension/benefits trumps that.

The point is not about who's plane is faster or flies higher or farther (typical pilot banter) but about raising the WAWCON bar for all of the AC Express pilots (and by extension all airline pilots in Canada).

If you accept the company proffer of aircraft and destinations over WAWCON then you are part of the problem instead of part of the solution.

[Stinky]

Lots of those YVO destined pilots comfortably make $150k+/yr and will be retiring to 6 figure pensions. But I guess flying shiny planes to cool places for less pay/pension/benefits trumps that.

Rudder, you're making the assumption that somebody today will also see those pay scales. We already know they're not going to see that pension.

The only reason the current contract at Jazz looks the way it does is because these older senior guys weren't going to give up a dime but were happy to tack on a lower crappy pay scale at the beginning. AC/Jazz aren't stupid, they knew full well that when that contract expired the demographic at Jazz would be drastically different. That means next time around the argument will be: look how successful the PML is and how many guys move on, you don't need a 15 year pay scale, let's chop off the top few years and give you a couple dollars extra when you need it in the first 5 or so. The demographic at that time will make it an easy sell.

As the Sky and Georgian pay creeps up I would bet that within 5 years the pay will be virtually identical across the board.

[Radiocaster]

I've been to those "hotspots" like Atlanta, LaGuardia. etc for the same $$$ as going to YVO on Dash8. You can have it. LGA is cool once, after that it's just a headache.
Status pay makes that decision easy.

BTW I've been stuck in Houston because we couldn't deice in addition to the many, many delays due to thunderstorms.

But I'm simple like that.

Exactly what I think to. Been there, done that, got the tshirt. I love my hop an go's going to YGR without talkin to almost anybody. Especially when it's solid CAVOK. LGA just runs kinda normally on a "visual" approach day. Anytime you have under 3000' ceiling is just a nightmare.

[fish4life]

I'm sure flying to all those fancy SKV airports is awesome when your sitting on the airport somewhere for 3 hours waiting for a flow time meanwhile the dash classic guy has already flown to Kingston checked into a hotel and is enjoying a beer.

[Stinky]

It's all subjective so there isn't much point in arguing which is better. I've done both a lot and my personal preference is to deal with the bigger airports and enjoy a better layover. I actually don't mind flow control and huge lineups at busy airports. A good month of thunderstorms can add a ton of money to your bank account. You can easily have 10+ hours of block growth just sitting in lineups or waiting for a gate.

There's good and bad with both. I'll take a few extra frequency changes and radar vectors if it means ending up with a better hotel and multitude of restaurants to choose from on my layover.

[rxl]

Somehow Jazz can't seem to shake the reputation on here that it is a career destination. That may have been true in the past but the reality now is that all regionals in Canada are nothing more than a stepping stone. Regardless of where you go, your schedule, compensation, upgrade times and flow to AC are roughly the same.
Flying on a modern automated jet to Dallas, Houston, Atlanta etc. seems a bit nicer than the possibility of flying a crappy old Dash 8 to Sudbury or Val D'or in February.

This is exactly the "Stinky" short sighted attitude that I referred to in an earlier post on this thread.

I would guess that including Jazz, Encore, Porter, First Air, Calm Air , Bearskin - the list goes on - there are likely some 3,000 to 3,500 pilots employed in Canada by various airlines doing so-called "regional" flying - probably about half of all pilots employed in Canada by the airlines. Two big realities to consider - "regional" flying is not going to magically disappear or be taken over by the "mainlines" and the majority of pilots employed by the various "regional" carriers are not going to be hired by the "mainlines". We all need to start taking these realities a little more seriously and make some effort to maintain at least the Jazz standard of WAWCON or we're all going to lose even more ground. Pretty sad to see the potential quality of some 3,500 pilot jobs traded away for an interview or a flow through that may or may not happen. A career worthy standard of WAWCON needs to be maintained.