There are things in the ULCC contracts, that AA doesn't have, that are very enticing. Spirit has that minimum 4 days off between sequences, or something like that. Frontier pays 125% on any credit over 82 hours. The schedule flexibility is unmatched at F9. Add/Swap/Drop at F9 is extremely powerful. Premium flying at 150%. At AA, what you get is basically what you fly (so I've been told). F9 has 150% deadhead middle seat pay.

Comparing W2s AA vs. F9, you'd be very surprised. It works for some people, it doesn't for others. It's important for each person to analyze their priorities and decide from that.

Doing the math, over the course of my career, I would make more money at F9 vs. waiting for the flow to AA. More money, sooner, and quicker upgrade. And that doesn't take into account any of the premium incentives at F9.

The bean counters at F9 and NK feel extremely confident and are working to prepare every day for the next recession, and whole heartedly believe their system will be profitable. Time will tell.

Highly unlikely Ichan, but there are plenty more of his ilk more than willing to attack a company weakened by high debt load in a recession.

To add to that, at Spirit you can almost always drop to zero should you need it due to the way their reserve contract is written. Think I read that reserves always have to be green or something like that, allowing line holders to drop virtually anything they want.

I think everyone needs to do a little homework on things. Choose what airline is best for you and make the move. I had an envoy guy in the Jumpseat with some REALLY bad info on AA. Lots of rumors circle about how good or bad the jobs are at the next level. I’ve read a lot of BS in this thread. BTW.. you can drop your entire schedule at AA if you know how to work the system.

I did do my homework on things. So any line holder on any given month can drop their schedule to zero at AA? Or, does seniority and base play into it?

You can't. AA guys just can't accept that they're on the same level as spirit and frontier now.

The company has to make the reserve grid a minimum 75% green during the first OT. This allows for us to drop just about everything (if we want). We have many junior FO or CA who lives on the west coast who want to hold a line in LAS. They bid to be based in FLL or MCO which allow them to have a line, drop everything and pick up in LAS. I just flew with one recently. He only had to commute to FLL once in 4 months because of this. He would be reserve in LAS but because of the way the system works he’s a line holder in FLL, but only flew 1 FLL trip in 4 months. For example, in LAS the only days that are red is Jan 31st - Feb 2nd. If you didn’t have a carry over you can drop everything. Some pilots will do this and wait for the phone to ring in the summer and pick up at 200%. Obviously this comes with a price. We don’t get legacy money but, how easy would it be to be junior in LGA, drop everything and pick up in LAX or PHX?

“Next level”....that is the problem with the airline industry...we all put ourselves in boxes with labels and management seized upon it to create pay disparities at all carriers. News flash It’s all 121 coast to coast to coast flying. Legacy’s on one end regionals on the other, it’s all slowly morphing to the more slim cost efficient model of cheaper fares and mid size planes. #seatcostpermile#bottomline

OK, this is how I thought it worked and I was correct in my thinking. Thanks for backing up that for us.

We all know AA is much better than Envoy. The thing is that AA isn’t that much better than spirit at the moment. AA’s contract QOL isn’t better than Spirit.

Let’s be real though 99% would choose AA over an LCC any day of the week.