Originally Posted by
ProPilotBlue
I guess I'll be the sole "other" opinion here. If you're already on base on the equipment you want to be on, why upset the apple cart? I know several people who have jumped from airline to airline numerous times because the grass is greener, and they are worse off than if they had just stayed at the first major airline they were at. Starting over at the bottom of a huge list is risky, and we can't always assume that things will not change with the hiring climate. What if the music stops (or goes backwards) 6 months after you jump ship?
I'm not saying any of that to dissuade you. By all means go where you'll be happy. I just don't think that it is as much of a "no brainer" as people seem to think.
I say go to the interview, and see how it goes. If you like the company, and get a good feeling about it, go from there. But take it seriously and weigh all of the pros/cons and don't cheat yourself out of making a critical decision by just assuming that the grass is greener.
Mergers rarely end up good for pilot groups. Network rationalization, base closures, SLI, a very real chance of a bankruptcy after spending over $5bn with high interest rates trying to make this happen, not to mention very few retirements at either airline, two opposite business models merging, neither of which really makes any money individually (and has a high likelihood of continuing to lose money), vs going to a well run airline that consistently pays out profit sharing, consistently has industry leading contracts instead of riding the coattails of others, has a vast number of fleet and base options providing for a lot more relative seniority options and faster upgrades. I dunno, I honestly can’t see any upside to staying. If the music stops, retirements at delta will cushion that. What does jetblue/spirit have? Not retirements. Their attrition is off the bottom…if the music stops, so too will the voluntary attrition. And then they are fat pilots…at delta they will keep on retiring from the top and everyone else will continue to move along.
Not to mention the very real chance that jetblue closes ATL. If I lived in ATL I’d be gone from spirit yesterday.