Originally Posted by
RyanP
I can understand guys leaving for Spirit for QOL reasons (not career pay). They have a good contract, 4 days off guaranteed between trips. Great transition/conflict language. Many of them I know get 16-18 days off a month which is a lot better than most get at AA or here for sure. I don't think it's a wise move looking (long term) career vs AA, but I definitely can see why people would go there. I use to want to go to Spirit until the flow got closer, now it would be stupid for me to go there and their upgrade has slowed as well.
Frontier is another story, leaving for there with more than 5 years seniority here is just dumb unless you live in one of their bases. Their FO pay is horrid for an Airbus. You basically HAVE to upgrade there quick or you are screwed. It would take me over 10 years just to get back to where my pay is now if the upgrade train came to a screeching halt (which could easily happen with these rapidly changing LCC's). Plus their contract negotiations will likely be dragged out for YEARS, 4-5 more years easily. Why wouldn't they with that cheap labor and still getting all the new hires they want?
I left in early 14 for Spirit. QOL and they way you are treated here blow away anything Envoy or AA for that matter have to offer. Pay is in the lowest tier out there rate wise for the Airbus in comparison to other operators. With the current contract though, with 60% seniority in your seat or better, you can credit 90 hours monthly with 16-17 days off. I made 85k for my second year here as an FO averaging 16 days off per month. So, as an FO with reasonable seniority you can do as well as a 9 year Envoy CA pay wise with a much better QOL.
However, unless we get more aircraft on order, we likely hired our last Captain either at the end of 15 or in this first quarter of 16. So yes, it's much better here in many ways if you are OK with being an FO for a long time. You have to decide where you are on the list at Envoy before thinking about coming here. I would say that if you are junior at Envoy, it would likely be worth a shot with the uncertainty of the flow beyond the 824.