As I have read on the ATP website, once a student successfully becomes a CFI and obtains at least 300 hours of flight time, one can start recruiting for regional airlines. I was wondering if the CFI at this point, had a decision or choice to recruit for a specific airline instead of recruiting for one of the ATP partner airlines. I understand that it would be more advantageous to recruit with a partner airline, however, would it even be possible to apply to a regional airline that isn’t a partner with ATP?
Also, for the airlines that are partnered with ATP and offer tuition reimbursement for the student, do these airlines reimburse EVERY student, regardless of them taking out loans for ATP? I read that these airlines offer tuition reimbursement over $11,000 to specifically “make a financial contribution for student loan payments.” I was curious as to if the reimbursement pertains only to students who take out loans for the program.
You can apply to any airline that you want to. Your pilots licenses are issued by the FAA, not ATP, so as long as you meet an airlines requirements, you are good to go.
If a student does not have a loan and they participate in the Tuition Assistance program, the money is simply paid directly to the student as extra income.
As Chris said, this is America and you can do whatever you like BUT you will not be signing conditional letters of employment at 3-500hrs if you go outside of ATP’s partners. If you visit ANY Regionals recruiting website you’ll clearly see they all require a minimum of 1500hrs to apply. Before then you’d simply get an email back saying “thank you for your interest, let us know when you meet our mins”. ATP has arranged these partnerships to help it’s instructors AND it’s Regional partners. The instructors know for certain who they’ll be working for and possibly even where base wise and the Regionals have an reasonable estimate when that pilot will be in class. Again totally your decision I simply have a hard time wondering (particularly with the Tuition Reimbursement) why anyone wouldn’t go that route?
Thank you for your informative response Adam. Personally, I just needed clarification as to what options were available and if there were any circumstances that would make a student ineligble to receive the reimbursement. I totally agree with you on the matter of using ATP’s airline partnerships to one’s advantage. It will definitely give any student more security and fulfillment knowing that they will be hired at the end of the 1500 hour mark. Thanks.
Honestly I haven’t seen the fine print (but I’m certain you could contact ATP admin about the particulars WHEN you get a little closer to the process. It’s a little premature now). From what I understand all you need do is continue to instruct with ATP until you reach the magic 1500hrs and of course not suffer and accidents, incidents or get involved in any foolish behavior.
As a follow up to Riki’s earlier question and your response (and maybe this is best directed to the admin), would one still be eligible for the full $11k from the tuition reimbursement program later on (i.e., once closer to reaching the 1500 hour mark or even upon actually being hired at a participating regional)? In other words, do you have to apply for the program at or around 300 hours? The reason I ask is, I imagine to many one of the key factors in choosing a regional is the upgrade time, and that might fluctuate wildly between signing on with the airline only 300 hours into your training and when you actually start working there, and by that time if you’re locked in to that airline it seems you might regret the decision if upgrade times at that airline have gone through the roof for whatever reason. If you have the benefit of maybe having a clearer picture of upgrade times closer to your actual DOH it seems like that could be a big deal. If you could still be eligible for tuition reimbursement later on in the process while keeping your options open longer that would be a plus of course.
I understand there’s something to be said for having the peace of mind early on of knowing you have an offer waiting for you, especially in a volatile industry, but assuming regionals are still going to be desperate for awhile, holding out for awhile maybe worth considering?
It may be that upgrade times are a crap shoot anyway so it’s useless basing a decision on that?
As long as you are a CFI with ATP with less than 1500 hours, you are
eligible for tuition reimbursement. 300 hours is just the soonest a CFI can
receive it.
As a follow up to Riki’s earlier question and your response (and maybe
this is best directed to the admin), would one still be eligible for the
full $11k from the tuition reimbursement program later on (i.e., once
closer to reaching the 1500 hour mark or even upon actually being hired at
a participating regional)? In other words, do you have to apply for the
program at or around 300 hours? The reason I ask is, I imagine to many one
of the key factors in choosing a regional is the upgrade time, and that
might fluctuate wildly between signing on with the airline only 300 hours
into your training and when you actually start working there, and by that
time if you’re locked in to that airline it seems you might regret the
decision if upgrade times at that airline have gone through the roof for
whatever reason. If you have the benefit of maybe having a clearer picture
of upgrade times closer to your actual DOH it seems like that could be a
big deal. If you could still be eligible for tuition reimbursement later on
in the process while keeping your options open longer that would be a plus
of course.
I understand there’s something to be said for having the peace of mind
early on of knowing you have an offer waiting for you, especially in a
volatile industry, but assuming regionals are still going to be desperate
for awhile, holding out for awhile maybe worth considering?
It may be that upgrade times are a crap shoot anyway so it’s useless
basing a decision on that?
In Reply To
Adam https://airlinepilot.life/u/adam https://airlinepilot.life/u/adam Pilot Mentor
October 25
Riki, As Chris said, this is America and you can do whatever you like BUT
you will not be signing conditional letters of employment at 3-500hrs if
you go outside of ATP’s partners. If you visit ANY Regionals recruiting
website you’ll clearly see they all require a minimum of 1500hrs to apply.
Befor…
Previous Replies
Adam https://airlinepilot.life/u/adam https://airlinepilot.life/u/adam Pilot Mentor
October 25
Riki,
Honestly I haven’t seen the fine print (but I’m certain you could contact
ATP admin about the particulars WHEN you get a little closer to the
process. It’s a little premature now). From what I understand all you need
do is continue to instruct with ATP until you reach the magic 1500hrs and
of course not suffer and accidents, incidents or get involved in any
foolish behavior.
Thank you for your informative response Adam. Personally, I just needed
clarification as to what options were available and if there were any
circumstances that would make a student ineligble to receive the
reimbursement. I totally agree with you on the matter of using ATP’s
airline partnerships to one’s advantage. It will definitely give any
student more security and fulfillment knowing that they will be hired at
the end of the 1500 hour mark. Thanks.
Adam https://airlinepilot.life/u/adam https://airlinepilot.life/u/adam Pilot Mentor
October 25
Riki,
As Chris said, this is America and you can do whatever you like BUT you
will not be signing conditional letters of employment at 3-500hrs if you go
outside of ATP’s partners. If you visit ANY Regionals recruiting website
you’ll clearly see they all require a minimum of 1500hrs to apply. Before
then you’d simply get an email back saying “thank you for your interest,
let us know when you meet our mins”. ATP has arranged these partnerships to
help it’s instructors AND it’s Regional partners. The instructors know for
certain who they’ll be working for and possibly even where base wise and
the Regionals have an reasonable estimate when that pilot will be in class.
Again totally your decision I simply have a hard time wondering
(particularly with the Tuition Reimbursement) why anyone wouldn’t go that
route?
Relatedly, how crazy is it to try to plan for/predict upgrade times at the regionals? How much visibility do you have into that both before and after being hired? And how accurate or reliable are said estimates?
Tuition Reimbursement starts paying out at 500 hours total time, hence you need to interview between 300 to 500 hours and receive the offer of employment for payments to begin promptly at 500 hours.
Payment while an instructor is $5 per flight hour from 500 hours to 1500 = $5,000
At the airline payments are a flat $500 a month for 12 months = $6,000 for a total of $11,000.
If you don’t enroll at 500 hours and enroll at 1,000 hours you will receive
Payment while an instructor at $5 per flight hour from 1,000 - 1,500 = $2500
At the airline, payments are a flat $500 a month for 12 months = $6,000 for a total of $8,500
I hope this example clarifies every hour over 500 hours you do not enroll in Tuition Reimbursement you loose $5 per flight hour.
Correct. Tuition Reimbursement is designed to help the student, but it also helps the airlines by having students commit to them at the 500 hour mark, that way the airlines can plan accordingly.
All the airline can do is give you a prediction. It’s not a good idea to be
planning around your “potential” upgrade until you’ve actually been awarded
your class date. I’m being told that my upgrade time could happen in 2
years, but I know captains that had to wait 10+ years for their upgrade.
To add to this question on tuition reimbursement this goes more for the airlines that offer sign on bonuses; is the 11k like more of an advance from your sign on bonus? Like a ATP student going to a Regional that offers 20k in sign on bonus would get 8k instead?
Each airline is different. Some offer Tuition Reimbursement PLUS the sign-on bonus - Mesa, Horizon. Others “back out” the amount of Tuition Reimbursement from the bonus. Once you begin the interview process this would be a question to ask the Recruiter during the interview as the offers often change.
I’m not sure I’d use the word crazy, but it’s really more of a waste of time and energy. Things can and do change in this industry quickly and the airline with the shortest upgrade time could become the airline with the longest overnight. While I appreciate EVERYONE wants to advance ASAP, you’d be better served focusing on training and being the best pilot you can be. WHEN the time comes to assess the situation, you can then look at the environment AT THAT TIME as past history is nothing more than just that.
Just looking at some of the regional airlines. A majority have contracts with Delta, American, and United. Are there any regionals for JetBlue or southwest? Just wondering for the fun of it
Short answer is no. Regionals exist to allow Major’s to bring passengers from smaller markets to their hubs and fly them out around the world. JB and SWA are national airlines that fly themselves into the smaller markets and therefore don’t need a Regional feeder.
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