I chose Frontier because I was a junior captain at a regional airline for several years and no one else offered me the job. As a captain I was able to save $20,000 to help make it through 1st year pay at Frontier (which I used almost all of in that year).

I was commuting to New York before, while now I commute to Orlando. I have family in Orlando so I save on crash pad expenses. Next year I'll make what I made as a captain and from then on I will be at a higher income than I was as a captain at the regional. Once I upgrade (probably 3-4 years from now assuming continued growth) I'll be making close to twice what I made at my previous airline (under our current contract). If we have a new contract by the time I upgrade it will be even more.

Was Frontier my dream job? No. That said, with the hindsight of 1 year at the company I would do it again. I wasn't going to be that 15 year captain at a regional waiting for one of the big 3 to call me.

I believe when we get a new contract this will be a much more competitive airline to get hired at. If the contract isn't that great, I'll start updating my resume. I definitely took a gamble. Hopefully it will pay off.