I used min guarantee @ each carrier, including Spirit and XJT. You used 80 hours of pay.

If you were to assume the same amount of credit hours @ the various carriers as @ XJT, you'd break even much faster.

The high min guarantee @ XJT relative to most other carriers also helps explain the time it takes to get even. Spirit gives up 36 hours to XJT a year, while Delta is 60 hours a year behind XJT. UPS and Southwest both not only pay more hourly (after the first year), but also have much higher min guarantees (90 and 48 more hours a year, respectively).

UPS pays well, but the real reason they shine in my comparison is their 81 hour monthly guarantee, not their hourly rates. Something to think about for future negotiations, perhaps.