Originally Posted by
WhiteMorpheus
What was the ultimate goal/desire of the pilot group for this contract? What was left out that should be fought for in 2023? Is another 2-3 year delay in negotiations likely when the contract becomes amendable?
I get that a bit more pay would have been welcome, but a cursory look at the DOS+4 CA rates show that your new rates are competitive with A319/320 CA rates at the legacy carriers and they destroy the rates at Allegiant, Frontier, and JetBlue (for now).
The FO rates lag behind the legacies, but with upgrade potential at 5 years given continued growth, that is a huge difference in total lifetime compensation for an older "initiate" to the 121 world who goes to Spirit early on, given 12-15 year upgrades at the Legacies and timing/age that will prevent ever being a widebody CA. My calculations yield a result of $1 million in favor of going to Spirit after about 3 years at a regional over waiting to flow to American from one of their WO regionals.
I'd like to have seen a bump in training pay and a slightly stronger 1st year FO rate, but I can see how retaining a barrier to entry will weed out candidates that aren't serious about a long-term career move to Spirit.
Management will always be the thorn in the side of the flight crews, but aside from that is the work enjoyable and are the people good to work with? Is Spirit somewhere you could see yourself finishing your career after the "improvements" in this TA?
There are many many staying at Spirit for a career. Crews are awesome! Lots of 5 year pilots that don't even have apps in at the others. Lots of negativity on APC but try asking a pilot in person and it won't seem so bad.