. Are the American Eagle airlines based on seniority whilst the UAL CPP based on experience, i.e you apply for a position with your CV and an interview etc but competing only with those in you airline rather than everyone else?
It is all seniority based. If you are at Envoy, you can also apply to American off the street and hope to get hired before you flow. I believe PSA's contract says you cannot apply to American off the street in an attempt to get hired before you flow. Some PSA guys were saying that if you get hired at PSA today, the one major that you will never work for is American, but I don't know how true that is.
I know that Envoy has shrunk their fleet considerably recently, so they are fat on pilots. Long reserve right now and longer upgrade, and line holders have lower credit trips in general. Having a flow is a great way to reduce the pilot numbers to the correct number required for their fleet. A lot of pilots speculate that American will meter the flow if it will cause staffing issues for their regional feed.
Expressjet has the preferential interview program with United, only for United dedicated pilots (ERJ pilots). Keep in mind that Expressjet operates only old 50 seat airplanes for United. United has pubicly stated that they want to reduce 50 seat feed by over 50%. What great combination of hiring pilots from the 50 seat fleet as the fleet shrinks over time...
Am I right in thinking that if I wanted to work for a particular major airline, I would have the best chance of getting there by first landing a job with one of their regional partners. I assume I could still get a job with one of the other majors if I wanted? For example, I get a job with Piedmont and join the queue to move up to AA. I then decide that I would rather work for United, and so apply to them directly. Will I be passed over in favour of pilots from their own regionals?
Flawed thinking here...
Many regionals operate for more than one major:
Horizon Airlines - owned by Alaska Airlines, operates for Alaska
Air Wisconsin - Operates for American as American Eagle
CommutAir - Partially owned by United, operates for United Express
Trans States Airlines - Owned by Trans States Holdings, operates United and American
GoJet - Owned by Trans States Holdings - operates Delta and United
Compass - owned by Trans States Holdings - Operates Delta and American
Endeavor - Owned by Delta, operates for Delta
Envoy - Owned by American, operates American Eagle
Piedmont - Owned by American, operates American Eagle
PSA - Owned by American, Operates American Eagle
Expressjet - Owned by Skywest, operates Delta, American, and United
Skywest Airlines -Owned by Skywest Inc, operates United, Delta, American, Alaska
Mesa - Owned by Mesa, operates for American and United
Republic Airlines - Owned by Republic, operates for American and Delta
Shuttle America - Owned by Republic, operates for United and Delta
Silver - Operates for United
In general, the majors don't give preferential hiring to one regional or another unless they have explicitly stated it, for example CommutAir and United, Expressjet and United, Endeavor and Delta, and the American owned regionals. There is some speculation that some of these majors would prefer to hire from regionals that support their competition. For example, if PSA, who operates for American, cannot staff their airplanes, and United decides to hire a bunch of PSA pilots, now American is going to have to cancel some PSA operated American Eagle flights... This is just speculation. Southwest does not have any regional affiliates, and they hire quite a few regional pilots. Some people are cautious about going to a wholly owned regional after Comair was shutdown by Delta. Everything can change overnight with the regionals. If you look at any regional and look at their history, (fleet, mainline flying partners, growth, shrinkage, pilot bases), you will see some pretty crazy adaptation to the market.