Just ran a few numbers based on being a junior captain at Spirit vs the new Delta and subsequently United snap-up numbers. Even if you are a junior captain at Spirit or will be by January 2017, if you were to get hired at one of those companies it would only take 4 years based on 75 hours a month at the potential rates to make your money back. THAT IS FOR PAY ONLY. It doesn't even include retirement or profit sharing/ bonus plans which skew the numbers even more.