Originally Posted by
Dilbert
Cost neutral is a funny term. For instance, I'm using my tax refund from the last 3 years to renovate my home therefor it is cost neutral. It's not of course because I had to fork out that money that was happily sitting in my bank account to pay for it.
Spirit is paying me more money every year and I'm doing the exact same thing I've been doing for the last 11 years except I get more time off now. I doubt spirit thinks it's cost neutral. (not that I care one iota what they think)
In Spirit management terms, pilot cost is viewed in "cost per block hour". In that metric, I think that our cost per block hour over the length of this contract gives costs that are basically neutral. None of us will ever know, not me, not you, not E&FA, so arguing about it is moot. I can only speak to my personal dealings with Spirit and I assure you that they were totally focused on a cost neutral cost per block hour.
Your personal example is only a micro view, Spirit takes a macro view and from that viewpoint your 11 years is traded against a recent upgrade who upgraded into the same pay scales as C2003. The low entry wages, the increased benefits cost, the junior Captain B scale, the average longevity of the group during a period of planned growth, etc, ad nauseum; these all bring the average down and that's why I used the term cost neutral.
I'm curious about your getting more time off now, is that because of the 90 hour lines?, or because your personal bidding ability has grown during the last year of hiring?