Have had several spirit pilots in the jumpseat recently. It sounds like they have made the place quite tolerable from a schedule standpoint. The last jumpseater was fairly junior, but was able to pick up or drop down to whatever credit he wanted. Lots of scheduling flexibility.

I was curious to how this was achieved. It sounds (and I'm summarizing a fairly long and detailed conversation) that the pilot group showed tremendous backbone and solidarity in fighting for their QOL improvements and scheduling language. They did not have "rats" (his words, not mine) picking up open time trips, especially during contract negotiations. They were organized, motivated, and had some modicum of self respect as a work-group. In all, it appears that they didn't make very good victims. They sounded a lot more like intelligent professionals that demanded and fought for a good work-life balance.

If anyone disagrees with my take on this, then I'd be interested to hear. I've only been at two airlines (20 years total) and am still fairly green to the industry.