I hate to keep beating this issue up but I just looked at the last upgrade award, the latest hiring update and the seniority list. The most junior pilot in next month's upgrade class was hired 11/13. So that's a 26 month upgrade and he was in the 3rd class after no hiring for basically 5 years.
His seniority # is around 620 so with another 80 upgrades for the year you're looking at #700 who was hired in April of 2014 as the most possible junior captain.
We hired 160 in 2014 and another 170 in 2015. Simple math tells you those guys will not upgrade in 2 years.
Having said that. We have grown 50% over the last 2 years. From 630 to about 950 pilots. The Neos will start showing up later this year and I'd imagine 100 upgrades a year for the foreseeable future so it's a good time to come to Frontier. Just don't expect to be a captain in 3 years.

 

What are typical schedules like? 4 on 3 off? How many days off a month?

 

Day 1: Turn followed by Redye(East coast) Day 2: Reverse Redeye (West coast) Day 3: Redeye Midwest(STL,CLE,CVG) Day: 4 Return to DEN
Please come join the Frontier Team. We would love to have you!

 

They vary, but for February the average line credit is 77-78 hours depending on base, average 15-17 days off. Mix between 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 day (except MCO so far). Normal short call (2 hour) reserve but also medium and long call (10 and 12 hour). Line bidding so once you hold a line you can swap/drop etc pretty easily.

 

Depends on the base, but average is around 15-16 days off a month for line-holders. Ranges from 12 on reserve up to about 21 for some lines.

1-5 day trip mix, depends on the base also. There's quite a fair amount of 5 day trips. Blocks of days off aren't really spread too evenly all the time. Some lines have it set up like 1 off, 4 on 3 off, 5 on 2 off, 4 on 11 off...

Sometimes what Bolo said is true. You're likely to have a redeye or two somewhere during the month, and could be a whole trip's worth. But there are certainly better trips and you can go all month without a redeye.

 

Thanks! How long to hold a line in MCO or Den? I realize its probably fluid right now.

 

2 months for our class in MCO, DEN maybe 10 or so

 

I was just in recurrent and the higher ups said ORD to stay current size, 85ish CAs 85ish FOs (only due to no gate availability) They would love more! They want MCO at 150 each seat (currently 85ish also), and Den to stay current size (275-300) each seat with possible small growth in DEN next year. My money would be on DEN being the fastest line for everyone hired in 2016, because that's were 95% of our upgrades will be from, and at worst they want to keep DEN at its current staffing levels. Also since DEN is the biggest base, it has the biggest open time pot. With mid level seniority, you can pretty much just build your own schedule.

 

Even as a new guy on reserve, I've been able to dictate my own schedule to a large extent. The aggressive reserve bid is icing on the cake to go hit the beach a few days a month. So being in Denver, even at the bottom of the barrel, ain't too bad.

 

I wonder where the recent articles about Frontier "hiring 500 flight attendants in Chicago" fits in to this. I would love to see CHI grow; the 42 new routes announced included a number of additional Chicago ones. Hopefully using the L concourse gates more as common use will aid in our growth there.