US Airways Vs. ASTAR?

[Tweaker]

_____I would like to hear some pros and cons of each choice of airline, please. Save the East/West rants for another thread please.

_____I am 34. I currently have a job offer but no class date for AAA. ASTAR called last Friday for an interview the following Monday (which I could not make). I will attempt to reschedule.

_____I did not know as much about them until recently. I am still confused a bit by the DHL/ABX/ASTAR relationship. Here are my thoughts.

_____Pros for ASTAR (assuming I get job offer, of course)
- Non-passenger based business model, more stable, more consistently profitable, less drama.
- Pretty impressive pay scale, even for FE
- Impressive retirement (up to 15%)
- Decent schedule (days off, I think night flying will suit me fine)
- I don't mind age/generation of fleet (I like to fly a lot)
- Avoid what I anticipate to be an extremely unpleasant and financially dismal situation with AWA/AAA civil war that will not die for 10 years.

_____Cons of ASTAR position
- Long time as FE (10 yr FE's now, no stick time, lose currency in case of furlough)
- Small pilot group (vulnerable to stagnation/furlough/airline shutdown)
- Planned change to 2 pilot A/C may mean furlough if advertised growth does not take place

_____That's all I've got so far.
Again, save the East/West rants for another thread please. I am familiar with the situation.

 

[On Your Six]

Sounds like you won't mind night flying - that's clearly a good thing if you go to Astar. My problem would be the FE time. Some people don't mind it and some people hate it - I know that I would hate it. If you could ensure that you would be an FE for 2-3 years max then I would consider it. Still, your flying skills could degrade - and flying is where the fun is for me.

Go ahead with the Astar interview - it wouldn't hurt to find out more about the job and the company. Still, I'd personally go for USAirways in the end. Sitting side saddle for years on end every night would not be my cup of tea. Flying a classic bird like the 727 would be interesting but that type of night flying would get very old very quickly for me....

 

[Doug Parker]

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Actually, you would have a class at LCC.........there is no such thing as AAA anymore




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[ALGFLYR]

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Actually, you would have a class at LCC.........there is no such thing as AAA anymore




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The stock ticker symbol is LCC. It used to be just U.

AAA is the USAir ALPA code.

 

[Tweaker]

Pull it over, Dougie!

 

[jke406]

The East/West thing would scare the ******************** out of me.

ABX has large-format display 762s, right? That would be cool.

 

[Colonel Savage]

Why don't you get any sick time as an F/E? I mean...that's SAVAGE!!!