If you come to Frontier you should plan to live in base. This airline absolutely BLOWS for commuters. It's all a bunch of one and two day trips that are hard to string together unless you are senior or a talented and dedicated keyboard warrior on Flica which is an outdated web application and a total pain in the sac to use on a mobile device. I heard we hired a fired Allegiant employee that does our system schedules now, that should tell you a lot about what is going on with our BS pairing pool. If you commute you WILL need a crashpad unless you want to buy hotels at the last minute. Even if you think you have a commute in the bag it can be dashed because we don't have enough ramp personnel to park aircraft (or other issues) and you end up waiting for a gate. If they want this place to be a career destination they will have to improve the pairings and many other festering issues or people will simply keep moving on.

 

I agree but I don’t see that happening. The amount of money they are probably saving on hotels compared to our competitors is probably pretty dramatic. And since we are so cost focused that’s that. Unintended consequence is what you discuss and people leaving who would have stayed if they could commute. I’m guessing their multiple base strategy helps to offset everything but only if they stay viable and open.

 

I think you're right. I'm sure it's very good for them, saves them money and possibly is the reason we have a completion rate that is frankly very good. It is not good for commuting pilots whatsoever and if they want to continue with this new method of building pairings then they will have to pay pilots a lot more to stay. It's one thing when your seniority is rising quickly as an FO and everything is new to you, but when you have to make a choice of going through the long slog of being a junior captain at Frontier where we close and downsize bases scattering people throughout the country at the company's whim, or jump over to a legacy and start flying international widebody - or really whatever you want to in a short amount of time - and have some semblance of stability in you life and career? I believe many will chose the latter.

 

I live in Phoenix. So I’ve been waiting patiently for this to happen.

 

This right here. Stability is decreasing here by the month. There is little consistency month to month with anything - the network, system bids, pairings, you name it.

 

To be fair, there hasn't been stability here in.... at least 15 years?
But yes, the schedules change constantly. Living in base is by far the greatest factor in quality of life

 

It’s a catch 22 though isn’t it? We complain because the airline shifts quickly when routes don’t work and yet we were profitable. Spirit pilots are complaining because the company was not profitable yet is more dedicated to the traditional airline schedule. When I hear stability bringing in a paycheck to support my family easily trumps all other issues. I only need them to be able to do it 720 more times!

 

I know it’s not open yet and no real way to know how it will trend, but I’m surprised to hear it didn’t immediately fill up with mild or greater seniority. I have heard (from someone who heard from someone etc) that relatively new hires are getting it. It’s nice to see some actual numbers and not just second hand info.

anyway like I said, no real way to know but what are the odds it keeps going relatively junior? Whether from growth or just small attrition of people leaving/transferring/upgrading etc? Asking as a relatively new regional captain living and based in PHX, with an upcoming F9 interview.

 

It probably won’t get too much more senior assuming anyone who really wanted it has already pretty much had their chance at it. It’s possible there are some holdouts waiting to see how the trips look before submitting a bid.

 

Fingers crossed. I guess I assumed after pulling out of LAX a while back, coupled with LAS and then super senior DEN, would be a recipe for lots of people trying to enhance seniority in a new base plus undoubtedly there’s gotta be a cadre of F9 pilots already living here.