In a nutshell, everything. I spent 15 years on the corporate side of the house and my only regret is not going airline sooner.

I know where I'm flying, what time I land, and the hotel I'm going to stay at for the next month. This compared to NetJets only knowing the days that I'd be working and who knows where we end up. This allows me the ability to setup visits to places or people on my overnights and plan my time on the road.

Commuting. I really did not like riding the airlines from one airport to another to another to another. If I was going to be in an airliner I wanted to be up front and not 36A on a Delta MD-88.

All I have to do is fly. I don't have to load bags, track down the fuel truck, get catering, coffee, ice, papers, vacuum the airplane, wipe down the windows, clean the tray tables, check the safety cards, arrange the nuts, check beer dates, etc. My only concerns are the airplane, weather, and NOTAMS.

Comfort. I hated the Sovereign and the XL even more. Flying transcons in that tiny cockpit with the O2 mask on my head for 5-6 hours was painful. Having to walk over passengers to get to the lav and having strangers poke their head into the flight deck wasn't cool. The Airbus is worlds apart on comfort and I even look at the tiny 73 with disdain now.

Schedules. I'm just now at two years on property and already in the top 40% in base. I'm getting my top 10 or better choice of lines now every month. I also have the ability to drop trips, trade trips, and pick up in base or out of base. While NJA had the predictability of 7/7 I have far more control over when I work and haven't missed an event that I wanted to attend.

Pay. This is the only negative about Spirit. I did take a substantial pay cut to come here and will not defend the company here at all. Our pay is abysmal and it needs to be fixed. And I believe the market forces will dictate that it does get fixed. Leaving NJA was a short term pay cut but one that will pay dividends when I upgrade next year and even more with a new contract.

Job Security. I came here with 59 airplanes, we have 99 now, and our fleet plan had increased from 144 to 160 since I've been here. I will be near the top 1/3 and better if we order more airplanes. At NJA I had 100 guys below me and 2500 or so above me after 8 years. Here I have 500 below me with 1000 above me at 2 years. We made $450 million in profit last year with an average of 85 airplanes. Knock on wood, but I don't think I have to worry about being furloughed now.

QOL. I remember spending way too much time in HPN, PDK, PBI, SJT, MDW, etc sitting crew rot eating crappy crew food. I haven't had more than an 1 hour sit in the last year and that was last summer. Sitting in the crew room rotting away was not a fun life for me.

Living in base was a major factor in where I wanted to work. I think Delta is a far better job than Spirit but I wasn't willing to commute. AA might be a tossup depending up what you're looking for. They have better pay but the work rules are pretty brutal. Others have chosen WN or FedEx based upon their locations and desires. My NJA friend list keeps getting smaller and smaller. My class of 9 only has 3 still there and it would have been 2 if one hadn't blown an interview. The others I know there are leaving for WN and FedEx.

My assessment of NJA was that of a shrinking company with a stagnant seniority list and no potential of upgrade or increase in seniority or pay. And while I'm not trying to keep anyone away from NJA I was curious as to who is looking at the same company that I left and saying 'I want to apply here'. I really am curious as to what the driving factors are.