Thank you for that explainer. Really helps.

First in saying I'm cautiously optimistic regarding "Pairing enhancements."

Perhaps despite being more costly on paper they'll have the opportunity to see savings in other aspects ie improved reliablity, less broken pairings etc.

I would say cautious optimism is the correct reaction.

It feels like they're about to pi$$ on our back and tell us it's raining. Commuters certainly are not going to like this.

Commuters may have issues with this, but for people that live in base I have a hard time imagining why I would want more crappy 5 day trips. I feel like most pilots prefer the shorter ones unless they commute.

I'ver never worked a 5 day trip since I've been here. Commuters like them though. We'll see how this plays out; I'm not optimistic.

I have been forced onto them a few times. Super ass, though commuters do like them.

Kinda depends on where you commute from. I have a relatively easy commute compared to most so this doesn't really have much effect on me one way or another, but I can see it being tougher on the longer or two-legged commutes that some people do.

5 day trips are awful. They should go away completely.

So, they should go away because YOU don’t like them? Very few people get “stuck” with 5-days. Some commuters like them because they can do three commutable 5-days and be done for the month. The better option is to try and tailor the amount of commutable trips and day trips to the desires of the pilot group.

I commuted for 6 yrs and didn’t fly 5 days. There is no reason why junior pilots should get stuck with them in the bid. If they were any good that wouldn’t happen. Stack a 2 and a 3 day together. There ya go.

yeah great option. Another night in the Crashpad and more money blown on taxis. Thanks for tip, genius. Smdh.

I would have killed for 5 day trips when I had to sit in fkn Kew Gardens 12 years ago doing nothing for 5 days.

They decreased headcount in NYC / BOS last year. This year - we need to refocus on NYC / BOS, and we are going to fly shorter trips to help with reliability, with our reduced headcount in those bases we are refocusing on. Around and round the merry go round we go.

is this a new phrase or something? i've never heard this.

I’m not sure I follow your logic completely. Being junior sucks and sometimes you get “stuck” with something. Maybe it’s short call reserve, short call conversion, redeyes, non-commutable trips, SDQ/STI trips, etc. I’d rather focus on the final 20 years at a place as opposed to the first 3 years. BTW, stacking a 2 and a 3 day together doesn’t make a commutable 5-day and requires a hotel/crashpad.

Pilots : In base layovers are B.S.

Company: Pilots don’t want in base layovers.

Company Planners: No problem, shorter trips and not paying for hotels as well? Reliability goes up. Genius. Why didn’t we think of that a couple years ago?


Pilots: Dammit more nights in a Crashpad? This is B.S.

I'm definitely the minority that likes in base layovers. Now all of my layovers are in New York a city I detest.

The funny thing is pilots (our union) essentially helped the company discover in base layovers as a cost saver 😂

I'll be honest, I don't care at all about in base layovers; it's just the rig part of the pairing that sucks.

so I don’t want to fly your 5 day and you don’t want to fly my 3 and 2 day. That’s real genius. SMH nozzle

This is the key. We have surveyed the bases individually, and should do it annually. Match the pairing mix to the survey results... Some bases have lots of commuters, some don't. The pairings should match that.

I commute, and my willingness to fly 5-days is directly proportional to the way the trip is built. For many years I flew 5-days regularly, and lived them. Because they had 4 legs TOTAL, had great long west coast layovers, and were highly commutable.

The ones they build right now I don't touch... Build desirable 4-5 day trips, in proportion to the amount that bases pilots WANT, and they will get snatched up.

When did they say they need to refocus on NYC/BOS though? what was the actual statement?

Inferred from various sources such as town halls etc .......below From the Quarterly investor call...

Joanna Geraghty -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Sure. So I think we mentioned in Marty's prepared remarks some loyalty commentary. But I think importantly, the network changes are focused around retrenching into our core strengths, which should drive improvement in relevance for our customers, who tend to be over-indexing in those areas.

So I think New York, Boston, South Florida. .............
........ So overall, I think a lot of great progress there, but we're focused on being highly relevant in our key focus cities. And over the last several years, some of that relevance came at the expense of those focus cities because we paused things for Spirit because the NEA was in place that we had to draw down from certain areas.

I'm actually excited by this retrenching because I think it will actually drive even more relevance for our customers in those locations. Marty, you have something to add.


Marty St. George -- President

Yeah. Conor, I think if you actually were to look at the schedule patterns that we've had -- most specifically in Boston for a lesser extent in Fort Lauderdale. And you look over the last five years. We've actually done a lot of compromising on the schedules to take advantage of things like the NEA.

And frankly, going from 20-something flights to 50-something flights in LaGuardia, those planes came from somewhere and a lot of that came from schedule quality. So I would actually say the exact opposite, which is -- this is actually going to supercharge schedule quality in some markets that we've actually neglected over the years because we were trying to do a lot of things at the same time. And I'm actually very excited about what this is giving us ability to do as far as reclaiming some of the strength that we've had historically.

Thanks for the info. So they are saying their plan here is to retrench into BOS, NYC, & FLL. They reduced NY and BOS head count and put them in FLL and MCO. But doesn't that mean the head counts are still available in that area for use?

Half full planes all over the place. Is this normal for this time of year?

What routes are you seeing than on? I haven't been less than 90% full in weeks.

The dual hydraulic failure plane was BOS to FLL had 67 people on board. Our "entrenched" markets. The JFK EDI route we're so excited for is wide open most days. Today has 87 open seats for example.

Full boat outta PUJ today. Full boat outta JFK to PUJ

Yes. A 2 flight sample, one of which is a late night flight on a Tuesday and the other being a brand new international destination certainly defines "All over the place."

85% load factor today.

EDI just started.

I had 198 on my flight today.

We have enough problems here without people making up more. Most of our routes and planes are putting in the work. And unfortunately some of the underperforming routes are he ones that get cut. Even if it is a route I like. :'(

I commute on you guys sometimes between Newark and Lauderdale and you're always pretty full. I always get a seat but there aren't many open. I love that you don't oversell. You're my second choice after my own airline (NK).

“Didn’t” oversell…

I thought noticed this but wasn’t sure if I was seeing something off. Are we starting to oversell flights? Did they make any announcement on this?

I haven’t heard any announcements, but my commute flights frequently show 102 authorized on a 190.

Yeah they have discussed it a few times in pocket sessions. Thought there was an email about it at some point as well.

They only ever mentioned they were trialing it on certain routes. I would things like JFK-FLL where there’s multiple frequencies. I have yet to see it really cause any issues on the line though.