flight attendant

baggage handler

service clerk

customer service representative

pilot

Envoy Air

This job was my first job in the aviation industry. It's save to say that I was super excited to try out something new. However I encountered a lot of things I did not necessarily expect. Most of which made it a negative experience. 

The culture at the MSN station is awful. Just about everyone is looking out for themselves and how to better their own bid-line which means fellow employees are almost always looking for a reason to rat you out to a supervisor so you can get fired. Management is just as bad if not worse. Almost all of the supervisors at the station don't care to train you on outstanding training if you have any, and they WILL use that against you when it comes to whether or not they keep you on past your probationary period. 

Your probationary period is 6 months. Which means if you screw up they can and probably will not keep you on. They like to use you though. So even if you do screw up early on,  just know that they will keep you till the 11th hour and dispose of you accordingly. At that point they will tell you on your last few days before you are to receive full union protection, that you are to be removed from the payroll effective immediately. You can and will be removed from your probationary period if one or more of the managers doesn't care for you and any bad word from them gets to the GM.

Duties at the airport for the Ramp Agent position aren't hard at all. Depending on the shift you do (which you may have to work them all at some point) will dictate what's expected of you. On mornings, you come in as early as 0300 or 0330 and make sure the ramp is set up and bags are loaded for the first 5-6 departures of the morning. 2nd shift or "turns" are more faster paced responsibilities as in you marshal/wing walk incoming plans and unload baggage and upload the immediate outgoing flight's baggage. 3rd shift, you're responsible for marshaling the incoming planes that stay overnight and you unload/drop the baggage and security search/clean the planes. 

Going back to the culture for a moment. The drama/toxicty of the station is off the charts. If you don't fit into the click, you will almost immediately have a target on your back. You will get ridiculed and made fun of for just about anything and management doesn't care/won't lift a finger to stop it. Even if formal complaints are levied against specific employees by multiple coworkers who make the environment an unsafe environment, they do nothing simply because the accused "knows what they're doing." If anyone is disciplined in any fashion up to and including being fired or quitting, the whole station will know and will be talking about it 24-48 hours after it happens. 

The benefits are sparce but can be considered to some enough to deal with despite everything I've just mentioned. Part Timers don't get that great of health insurance options but it is offered. I would say a good 80-90% of the people at this station only stick around for the free flight benefits on any American Airlines flight. If traveling domestically, you are placed on standby and will get on free of charge if it's an open flight. Internationally you pay only for the taxes of coming back into the country which is extraordinarily cheap. Parents are included in the benefits as well as a spouse or a "registered companion." Parents pay a slightly increased fee but still is way cheaper than an actual round trip ticket. Any dependent of yours under the age of 24 gets the same benefits as you do. After you hit your 6 months (if you do) you will be able to ZED which means you can use any other airline's standby flight option but at a discounted rate. You also will get 16 one way "buddy passes" for the year. 

All in all I can say I enjoyed working for Envoy Air in the sense that I liked doing what I did and I enjoyed working with a majority of my coworkers. The flight benefits made things easier to deal with all of the internal garbage that was going on at the station. However, said toxicity and drama and the end result of myself and others being let go for no reason other than not wanting to give full union representation, makes the MSN station a trash heap. If this is to be nothing more than a temporary job for you and you want to take full advantage of the flight benefits for the limited time that you are employed with Envoy Air, go for it. If you plan to make a career out of your time as a ramp agent, I would steer clear of this station like it's the plague and either work for another airline or just go straight to a mainline station like Chicago.  

# Exit Interview – Envoy Air Fort Wayne Station

I joined Envoy because I loved aviation. My loyalty was always to the company and to the operation. I wanted passengers to arrive safely, flights to depart on time, and our station to be one that American Airlines could be proud of.

I did not leave because I stopped loving the work. I left because I no longer believed the workplace culture allowed people to do their best work consistently.

## What Worked

The work itself was deeply rewarding.

I enjoyed working aircraft, deicing, gate operations, and solving operational problems. I took pride in following company policy and representing American Airlines professionally. I built positive working relationships with Airport Fire & Safety, flight crews, and many coworkers. I believed in supporting the operation before supporting personalities.

## What Did Not Work

The greatest weakness of the station was not the employees—it was the workplace culture.

During my employment I experienced repeated conflict, inconsistent communication, favoritism, and what I believed to be inconsistent application of policies. Rather than focusing on operational excellence, too much energy was spent on interpersonal conflict.

As a union steward, I became increasingly concerned about process. Internal opportunities should be posted transparently. Training should be consistent. Investigations should be conducted fairly. Employees should understand expectations and receive constructive feedback rather than repeated vague criticism.

## Performance vs. Politics

I cared about operational performance.

My focus was on delayed flights, passengers, aircraft, safety, and company policy.

Too often, I felt conversations were centered on personalities rather than measurable performance.

Organizations perform best when employees are rewarded for competence, reliability, teamwork, and integrity.

## Leadership

Good leadership creates consistency.

Employees should not have to guess expectations or feel they are being treated differently without explanation. Trust in leadership depends on fairness, transparency, and accountability.

When employees believe standards are applied inconsistently, morale declines regardless of individual effort.

## Why I Left

I reached the point where I felt my effort was helping sustain an environment that was not improving.

I remained committed to aviation.

I remained committed to doing quality work.

But I no longer believed I could contribute effectively within that particular 
workplace culture.

After I submitted my resignation, completed my two-week notice, and ended my employment, I received a non-compete agreement by certified mail. I found this unusual because it arrived after my employment had already concluded.

## Final Thoughts

I hope the station succeeds.

Fort Wayne deserves a strong operation.

The employees deserve leadership that develops people, applies standards consistently, rewards merit, and allows the operation—not internal politics—to become the focus.

My criticism comes from someone who cared deeply about the work and wanted the station to succeed.


Working with Envoy has been a very interesting experience. Envoy Airlines is a subsidiary of American Airlines. It handles the regional flights for American Airlines, and also has contracts working US Airways flights and United Airlines fights at regional airports across the country. Envoy airlines is used by the larger airline companies so they can pay less and provide less benefits than their mainline employees receive. 

Station agents are the folks you check in with, drop off your bags, book and change flights, who meet the aircraft, deplane and board passengers. Mainline employees are unionized and have better protection than those employed by Envoy, even though we do the same job. The heaviest responsibilities fall to the lowest paid leads/supervisors, rather than the managers themselves. Employees do get flight benefits, but are on rotating schedules of 5 working days straight, and 2 days off at a time, often working too much to actually use the flight benefits provided for them. Shift hours are very inconvenient (split shifts), which make it nearly impossible to work a second or third job to make ends meet. Part-time employees, even though they can work full-time hours, have to pay significantly more than full-time employees for benefits. Envoy employees also fly at a lower status than mainline AA and US Air employees, as we are technically not employed by the major airlines directly. Station agents in particular get the blunt of the wrath from passengers, which often borders on the edge of verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse. 

The hardest part of the job is dealing with the constantly changing environment made more difficult by poor planning and inconsistent communication from management. The most enjoyable part is seeing different people every day and helping them when they need it (change tickets, etc), and also that my family receives flight benefits. It is a great job for someone who doesn't have a lot of bills (i.e. folks between HS and college, and retirees). People don't work in the airline industry for the pay. I can't recommend this job for someone that has a lot of bills to pay or heavy home/family responsibilities. If you're willing to work 14 hour days, you will be able to find plenty of hours, but don't hope to stick with "normal" business hours.

As this is the only station I have worked with, I cannot be sure if this is an accurate representation of the entire industry or just those operated by Envoy itself. I have received mixed reviews from folks at other stations and at other airline companies. Sounds like it's a mixed bag. 

I wanted to have a career within the airline industry but after my experience with Envoy, I am very cautious and reluctant of staying within it. I don't get paid enough to deal with the **** that I do - from passengers AND management. We CERTAINLY deserve to be paid more for what we do.

I really like working here. I have a lot of fun at this job. Does it have its moments, sure. But that’s with any job. I think there is a really great group of people currently working here for the most part. 

This is a physical job. If you’re not willing to break a sweat and put in some actual labor occasionally then this job is not for you. You’re not constantly breaking your back, but there are moments where you’re going to get a good workout in for sure. Not to mention, you work outside no matter what the weather is. None of this bothers me, but I know it is not ideal for others.

The travel benefits are awesome. It’s rewarding to know at the end of the week you could go hop on a plane somewhere if you wanted. 

There a few cons. The first con is the onboarding process. This job sucks the first two months you work here. You don’t have a set schedule and you don’t have much notice when you receive your schedule. The supervisors will literally forget to give you it. Also, the training is a big commitment. You have to have both ramp training (a few days) and customer service training (2 weeks) which you travel out of town for. Until you get trained, you can’t really do much so you’re going to feel lost and like you don’t have a purpose at first. Over the time I’ve worked here, I’ve noticed most of the new hires quit before they’re fully trained. It’s a frustrating process, so I understand why. I almost quit myself during this time. It definitely needs to be revamped.

The next con is your schedule. It’s a bid schedule, so you bid on a pre-made schedule based on seniority. You get what you get. You don’t get sick time until you’ve worked here for 6 months. Also, you don’t get to request any time off until you get vacation time (only two weeks which you also have to bid on) after you’ve worked here for a year. If you have set things you need to do outside of this job like school, another job, kids, etc this type of schedule will not work for you unless you build up enough seniority. Another thing with your schedule is if the plane is delayed, you don’t get to leave at your scheduled time.

The last con is the pay. It’s bad. McDonald’s down the street makes more than we do. Also, raises aren’t really a thing anymore until you’ve worked here for years and years and years. However, that is currently trying to be fixed in the new union contract. 

Also, when things go bad at this job, THEY GO BAD. 

Overall, this is a good job. If you’re interested, give it a chance. You only actively work a few hours out of your whole shift 90% of the time. It’s very laid back. Aviation is such a unique industry. If you get over the cons, you will have fun if you work here. 


I am an aviation student, and I was so excited when  I was hired on to work the line with American Eagle. I was hired, told I would receive the new higher paperwork via email (which I did), and I told I would receive further correspondence via email after the completion of my new higher paperwork (which I also did).

I completed all necessary forms, sent everything in, and I received a call from the station manager to keep an eye out for yet another email containing start dates, and training materials (which I never received) I called the manager roughly a week later, as this all took place over a major holiday weekend, curious as to when I should be receiving such items. I was rudely informed that I no call no showed my training shifts, and I still hadn't competed the online training materials. I explained that I never got such things, and he ridiculed me as if I was lying. I later received an apologetic phone call explaining that I was accidentally left off of the email mailing list. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have been allowed to jump into training midway through, and I was informed that I would have to wait until they had a new group of new hires before I could complete training. Since they send someone out to the airport from the corporate office to conduct such training, it would have been a major waste of their time to conduct training for just one individual. 

Two months go by and I'm still waiting eagerly to begin training... I am still in contact with my station manager, and still receiving small regular paychecks for paid holidays, and minimal hours in order to keep my employment status. Although I am not allowed to work since I haven't completed the mandatory training, the station manager was still clocking me in for a couple hours per week so their payroll system wouldn't automatically drop me from employment due to not clocking in for extended periods of time.

It's been three months now and I decide that I cannot do this anymore. I need to find employment and I need to make some real money. I began seeking employment elsewhere, and I sent in my letter of resignation. A few weeks later I receive a bill in the mail from American Eagle Airlines... they wanted their money back. I was paid roughly 400.00 dollars over the course of my 3 and a half month employment. I was paid because my station manager was clocking me in so I could keep my employment status, and now that I decided that this just wasn't cutting it, they want their money back, and they gave me 60 days to comply before sending me to collections. How low. 

A typical day involved loading and unloading luggage from the aircraft using a hand scanner, transporting luggage, marshaling the aircraft in and out, performing security checks in the aircraft, maintaining weights and balance requirements for the safety of passengers, and deicing during the winter. 

The collective management is inadequate and there are conflicting instructions to very important tasks.  Some people in management are impatient when it comes to training and quite cynical.  

There is a serious problem with morale.  The workplace culture seems to be conflicting since my training out of state was completely different than my station training- almost like they were two different companies.  (I preferred the out of state training).  There is very little consistency in the training, and when presented with formal methods, they are almost always mocked by members of management and veteran employees as being inaccurate or completely wrong.  Employees who have been there awhile have a negative attitude about the company and openly talk about it.  They also seem to have a negative attitude towards new employees which facilitates the lack of decent training for such an important role. 

The hardest part of the job was dealing with the barrage of negativity and inconsistencies in the training process.  While new employees get 6 months to become competent, I got the feeling that there was an unrealistic expectation to understand things in a much shorter amount of time.  

Another thing I did not like about working here was the pay structure.  It was biweekly, but instead of getting paid for hours worked, you got retroactively paid for the weeks ahead.  This seems nice but their system is extremely infuriating and you end up owing the company money if you don't work your full schedule during a pay period.  The clocking in/out process is also way too complicated, and I have had many checks that were short (luckily I kept track).  

The most enjoyable part of the job was the job itself, and the initial training out of state.  But that enjoyment was rare and among the many red flags was not enough to make it worth working for this company.

You start out at less than $10/hour.   You get a 50 cent raise at 6 months and another 50 cents at a year.

You are required to travel for training.  (great if you don't have any other responsibilities).  Initially 1 week training before you can do ANYTHING.  After that, there are others required training.  Right now, there is a 3 week one that sends you to TX, NC, or Chicago.

There are HOURS and HOURS of online lessons that you have to do.  They're powerpoint slides with a quiz at the end.  They're easy, but take a ton of time.  Some are super top secret that say you cannot even tell your family members about.

You will learn to do everything, but don't expect to do anything other than the grunt work for months.

So, they basically require minimum wage employees to do high risk work, when flipping burgers gets you higher pay.


You have to load and unload baggage, no matter what the weather
De-Ice Planes
Security Inspections
Taxi Jets in from the runway (you know the little guy waving the flashlights?)
Driving equipment
Emptying the waste from the plane

Staff IS trained for these things, but most employees think they're getting paid too little and don't take it seriously.

With security measures, the company as well as the employee can be fined for mess ups.  Say that you aren't paying attention and someone sneaks by you onto the plane without a ticket.  You can personally be fined THOUSANDS of dollars.  The company flat out says if you are fined that they do not help with personal fines or court costs.


You do get free flights on american airlines anywhere in the US, and International flight is very cheap.  Your family can travel free and get some discounts.


The shifts suck.  Like 4AM opening, and there until like 2 when you close.  You don't stick to a set shift.  You'll have to close one day, then a couple days later, be there at 4AM.  As a new hire, you'll get the bottom of the shifts.  You'll get what everyone else doesn't want to work.


So if you are a student and don't need a lot of money, and can make good use of the travel benefits, it would be a great job.  Or there are some retired guys that work just for the free flights.  Traveling with more than just yourself or one other can be tricky and you can be stuck at airports not able to make the flight you wanted.

Please Read if you’re really trying to get in this job. It’s a lot of cons, but I’m also giving a lot of gems towards the end if you’re solid on starting here. Thank me later! 

Pay isn’t worth it.
Horrible work environment
Management plays favoritism 
High School like environment
Nothing is like what they say in training.
They treat you like garbage 
Management is unorganized and incompetent 
Nothing is sanitized (i.e. breakrooms, equipment, tugs, trucks, etc.) 
You work in inclement weather conditions and expected to NEVER get sick.

If you have a family or children I wouldn’t suggest working here because God forbid they get sick or you’re needed outside of work management and attendance doesn’t care.
You still get reprimanded even WITH a doctors note.

they’re very strict on time you cannot be ONE MINUTE late or you’ll get a point. 
Once you hit 2.5 points you get a written warning. Within 6 months they don’t want you getting past 3 points. 

You have a union, but again they don’t represent you before 6 months. 

If you’re working here for free flights you won’t be able to really use them until AFTER 6 months. 
Your probation is 6 months because you’re working through the week and two days off. You can’t uses your vacation time until after those 6 months anyway and that still depends on if you’re approved for the days you want. You’re riding standby btw & that’s not technically a guaranteed seat depending on where you’re going and returning from. Most days you’ll be tired from being at the airport every other day you’ll have to REALLY know what you’re doing to make it back to be at work when you need to be. Because once again they’re VERY strict on time.

If you do end up working here. Here’s your forewarning…. NEVER BID DEICING!!! I repeat NEVER BID DEICING. You WILL regret it. I’m telling you now. If that’s your only option just keep a leveled head. You’ll understand once you’re there. Lbs

Also, never bid for 6am or 2/2:30pm start times unless you absolutely have to. You’ll always have problems trading your shifts at those times bid 5:30am/1:30pm shift start. Those are the most requested and you’ll more likely have a better chance at trading shifts with your colleagues. 

The best thing about this job is for the *most* part, being able to organize your schedule weeks in advance by trading/giving away/picking up shifts so on and so forth. However, there is a high turnover rate for a reason. 
The hourly wage is not worth the time, a lot of people have second jobs and work here minimally for flight benefits, however, those are limited to space availability on flights. We are the last selected to get on flights, which can cause you to miss your flight back home. So have some time prepared to get home before your shift because you cannot use your flight benefits to fly back if you have to call in sick due to previously stated reason. Breakrooms are disgusting. Mandatory overtime is forced if it rains or for any other reasons, so if your shift ends at 11pm, it can go up to 2am. You cannot leave until the "mando" is relieved for any reason or will be fired. Management is super disorganized and chaotic. Training department is a useless. You are forced to work on the ramp in teams which everyone can and will suffer the consequence of one persons wrong doing and can be fired. This includes new hires who are thrown onto areas whether they have proper training or not, you won't know, even if they claim to know how to the tasks. You have to babysit in the sense that you have to watch them perform their tasks as well as completing yours just to protect yourself from them potentially causing a mistake that will costs yall's jobs. This can happen every day depending on where you work at because people are shuffled and moved around all of the time. New hires are added biweekly and it's always someone new. 
The job can be very easy and simple because you can develop a routine, however, the constant change of coworkers are probably the most necessary to adapt to. The union fees and dues are useless and haven't done much for me or others while I've been employed there and I don't like that it gets taken out of my check biweekly. 

Work-life balance
Would rather die than work with Envoy Air. During my first year at the company I was able to meet a wide variety of people from all aspects of life. The travel benefits would have been nice to use, but your first two years are tight monetarily if you are a single man/woman. However, I went into this thinking so positive. I never for one second disliked my job even with everything I was put through. The company itself will show you their true colors. They made me and others I talked to personally feel like every little thing you mess up on, you're going to get fired for, regardless of all the good you do for them. Unfortunately, there were many barriers that prohibited me from making this my forever company. Some were most definitely things I did to myself, but they don't care about you at all and never will.

Pay & benefits
18 an hour for the first year, 22 the second. Your benefits won't matter to you unless this is just a side job. Even then, they deduct uniforms, deduct medical and health out of your paycheck, all that extra business. Barely made 1000 each month

Job security and advancement
I'd say the union was absolutely wonderful but job security is not a thing for anyone but pilots and maybe gate agents, but please don't quote me on that. That's just my opinion from my experience.

Management
Run.

Culture
Now, the culture I personally thought was absolutely wonderful. The comradery you get at any airline I'm sure is uncanny. My fellow flight attendants and pilots made a huge difference in my decision to postpone leaving the company. The pax as well. Until I couldn't take it anymore. I always had such great flights and rarely ever left work without a smile. Most difficult decision I'd ever had to make.

Overall
I have to say that leaving envoy was the most difficult decision I had ever made. Once you find a career that's  perfect, you never want to leave. And I didn't. But circumstances change. It's really a shame that envoy cares less about their employees enough to push people out who wanted to give the company everything they had.They would have a lot better employees that stick if they would just simply care. But they don't and never will.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Flight attendant 15 salaries reported	$28.00 per hour
Baggage handler 20 salaries reported	$18.07 per hour
Service clerk 4 salaries reported	$16.22 per hour
Customer service representative 7 salaries reported	$20.92 per hour
Pilot 3 salaries reported	$133 per hour

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