I started at AA post merger in 2014 and made $35/hr. I think take home was under $2k. Still doable but not super fun. Luckily I had been planning for the pay cut for years so we had no debt. And we had zero expectations of any sort of "fast" upgrade.

I remember I worked one month at my regional and made half of what I made the rest of the year at AA ($15k at my regional and about another $30k for the rest of the 11 months).

That said in todays environment I really don't know how Spirit is staffing their operation. Amazing how far the pay has increased just in the last three years here. Spirit pretty much needs to flat out double y'alls pay.