Originally Posted by FNGFO

Meh. I just rode on brand spanking new AA 321 NEO, and, other than the color of the counter, it was in no better or worse condition than the forward lav on the fenced CEO I just drove. Clean bathrooms are a thing. Buc-ees is building an empire on them. But it’s not any different from one all basic economy class airplane to one that has 20 first class seats with the remainder being basic economy. A ULCC isn’t trying to compete against “Mint” styled service on trans cons. And yes, I will wipe of the counter and mirror if it’s a mess when I use it.

The thing that seems seems to be forgotten when talking about pilot pay eating into our profit margins is that the pay at the legacies will not remain static as the shortage hits. If everyone has to raise their rates by one Jackson, Tubman or Wakandan note then....ta da! The advantage still exists. And, even if pay parity were achieved, the ULCC model minimizes costs and seeks profit in ways that the legacies do not. Ways that will be more beneficial as economies of scale take hold when the airline has 3-400 planes instead of 160ish.

For example, I doubt our ground crews will ever be full time employees with benefits and pay provided by Spirit. Or that we’ll have career FA’s making $120k+. Or that we’ll curb the utilization of our planes.

We may one day move to fill in the gap between complete rock bottom air service and the legacies. A role WN filled between say Spirit and UAL for example, and a role they are pricing themselves out of for anyone who bothers to actually compare tickets. But therein to lies a moneymaker. Either customers so loyal, so math impaired or so lazy that they won’t make a better ticket choice.

Anyway, I’d like more pay, am pretty sure I’ll see it, am not holding my breath for matching rates anytime soon and don’t think it will break the bank. It’s all moot as some arbitrator will one day look at the NK/F9 merger, count the total planes and decide that relative fleet size will determine our pay scales for the JCBA.