Chautauqua Airlines Reviews

Pros

travel benefits, decent health care, dental

Cons

union promotes no work ethic among employees
strictly seniority based pay, schedule
no incentives
poor staffing
pay is horrible

Advice to Senior Management

focus on issues that actually benefit the company, don't turn every review or check up into a witch hunt, pay better, hire overall better quality FAs,

Pros

I work with some really great crews. Pilot interviews are mostly centered around an individual's personality. If invited to an interview, the company is already mostly satisfied with an applicant's technical qualifications. I have enjoyed flying with just about everyone, and I would be friends with many of them even if we were not all working at the same place, or in the same industry.

Cons

The life of a Chautauqua Airlines pilot is one of super-long hours, extremely low pay, and very few days off. Flight crews have an extremely adversarial relationship with management and crew scheduling. Current upgrade time for our First Officers is estimated to be around 7 years. Chautauqua Airlines is a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings. All future growth in the company is centered around the airlines flying the "branded" (Frontier) side of the business. As Chautauqua's contracts expire, Chautauqua will fade away. The company is not making any credible efforts find new contracts for Chautauqua, or to extend the current ones. The future success of our company rides on the success of our newly-acquired Frontier Airlines. Our Republic Airways management has successfully scared away all of Frontier's former management that had experience running a branded, stand-alone airline. Now, a group of regional airline executives that have spent their careers negotiating fixed-fee regional contracts are in the driver's seat. I hope our CEO is as close to God as he would like us all to think.

Advice to Senior Management

Company-wide morale is extremely, extremely low. Even the most positive of our people in the past are now bitterly negative. For example, we've been told by a member of management that the company does not want pilots to stay around longer than 5 years, because the company is "no longer getting a good return on their investment - they've learned all they're going to learn, and now they're just costing us money". This, along with low pay, and a low quality of life are contributing to the problems we are starting to face today. Take a lesson from Herb at Southwest Airlines. He has stated publicly that the success of his airline has centered on the well-being of his employees - that includes sharing the financial rewards, and the creation of a culture in which it is fun to come to work. Stop following the American and United business models. Start taking lessons and learn from the success of Southwest.

Pros

It seems like Chautauqua is always hiring, even when everyone else is laying folks off. There are some truly dedicated individuals who carry the entire organization. The CEO, Bryan Bedford, really is a great guy and a brilliant visionary. But size matters, and the company is getting pretty large, thus his direct impact is sometimes diminished. Our pilots are very well trained and there are some stellar mechanics with the company, but like I said, a few really talented people are carrying the entire company.

Cons

Upper management on the maintenance side have absolutely no credentials other than hanging around for enough years to be promoted. No people, organization, or operations management skills are required or even encouraged. Individuals that screw up majorly are regularly rewarded with day shift positions or supervisor jobs. Wages are low, as it is a regional airline, and dedication is completely unappreciated. At regional pay rates everyone is disposable. It is truly sad, considering what is on the line every time a plane full of passengers takes off. Benefits are available but really expensive for the first couple of years. Dishonesty, collusion, discrimination, and just all around slimy individuals are the unfortunate norm. Most employees are constantly on the look out for a "better" job.

Advice to Senior Management

Audit, audit, audit!!!! Educate, educate, educate!!!!! The company could pay a third fewer people a third more money than they are currently making if only the organization were actually ORGANIZED, ACCOUNTABLE, and EDUCATED!!!! Loss to the company from waste (materials, loafing, ignorant mistakes) is of monumental proportions. An airline cannot cut corners where crew training and maintenance is concerned, but why do they seem to think that by hiring anyone with a pulse to do the other operational work they are actually saving the company money?

Pros

Senior management some of the best in the business.
Not very likely to furlough large amount of employees.
Good hiring screening process provides great coworkers.
Management keeps employees in the loop, looks for feedback.

Cons

Poverty wage starting pay that tops out early.
Management will do whatever necessary to save a dime, including sacrificing employee morale.
Expensive health insurance and 401(k) fees.
Lazy and uninformed HR department never responds to inquiries.
Headquarters employees will not answer phone calls.
Culture of fear instilled by management.

Advice to Senior Management

Realize that employees are not just the means to an end but the life of the company. By making every effort to save a dime by making an employee's life harder, the culture becomes even more of an us vs. them scenario.

Pros

the trips are great here in st louis, mo. I have been here for 6 years and the pay is now alright, I can at least survive.

Cons

The time we spent away from home, and the way that they treat the new employees. Recurrent is really sucking this year because we have already lost a very good flight attendant because english is not her first language. I hope I still work here after the 26 of Feb.

Advice to Senior Management

take a long hard look at the recurrent, online for real. we have never had a timed test. it is like we have to apply for our job all over again. recurrent should be a refresher not a new hire training.