Originally Posted by
LennyAlanMcHifi
I didn't mean to imply that working for the next Spirit would necessarily be a bad thing. As I mentioned, the Spirit pilots seem to be generally happy. Admittedly I was a little surprised by this, because I figured that the majority of Spirit customers would be like "customer #1" that you described above and I would've thought that would have a trickle down effect to the gate agents, flight attendants, etc...but it sounds like that is not the case (which I am happy to hear).
I wish for nothing but the best for Frontier, from the pilots on down. From what I can gather the pilot group as a whole is a solid group that is willing to fight together for what they deserve. Hopefully that's how it will continue as everything plays out.
No, but you did say you thought working for an ULCC would wear on you after awhile. And, I can understand your point, but so far I haven't seen that.
Spirit's satisfied customers come, for the most part, in three different flavors:
1. Passengers who are traveling on holiday and would rather spend their money on the actual holiday and not on the means to get there.
2. Passengers who must purchase their own tickets, are looking for a bargain and are able to do a little prior research and work to get a cheap price. This is in contrast to business travelers using an expense account or travelers on an awards program who don't directly pay for their own tickets.
3. People who wouldn't normally travel by air and would travel by bus or car, or just not travel at all.
Complaints usually come from those who are used to purchasing tickets on Kayak, Expedia or another travel related site, don't pre purchase for bags, show up to the airport needing to check three bags, a couple carryons, expect a Coke/bag of pretzels and need their tickets printed at the airport. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not conducive to Spirit's business model, nor should it come as a surprise, but if you read any media reports about Spirit, it always seems to. Plus, people are much more comfortable complaining to a website, in an email or on the phone rather than being confrontational in person.
Generally, and admittedly like I said, I don't have much experience with the paying public, Spirit's customers seem to be happy enough, the gate agents are very nice and the FAs are bright, cheery and happy. That has been my experience so far, doubtless it won't always be like that.
I also wish the best of luck to Frontier's pilot group, hopefully good times are in store for them and the potential new hires.