Unless you're going to SWA or FedEx, going from the left seat at a regional to right seat at a major is likely going to involve some kind of pay cut for at least the first year. If you're smart, you'll sock some away to help ease the transition. Also, make sure you give your two weeks and get that vacation pay cashed out. That helped.

I can't speak for Spirit, but I can say I was a little nervous making the jump from 9E to B6. I had the "golden handcuffs" a little bit. I had good seniority in base, I was commuting but it wasn't a bad commute and the money was decent. After I turned in my 2 weeks, I had a few "*** am I doing?" moments. Fast forward nearly six months, and I have zero regrets whatsoever. I'm already holding a line, I get MORE days off as a junior line holding FO than I did as a upper-mid seniority CA at 9E and with the pay structure here, I'm only making a couple hundred less a month than I was. With the new pay rates, I'm actually pulling down MORE than I would have been under the bankruptcy contract. I also am looking at more people coming in BEHIND me in seniority on a monthly basis rather than AHEAD of me, which would have been the case the minute they closed MEM and ATL at 9E. By the time I hit second year FO pay here, I'll be making more than I would have been if I had stayed at 9E, at least on the average. Assuming a 75 hour guarantee, I'd still be a couple hundred bucks shy, but I'll take that trade off. The big things are I'm not exhausted after every duty day, I don't need a day to get my feet back under me after being beaten down for 4 days straight and I have the potential to stop commuting in about a year or two.