Airline Pilot Central Forums - ULCC Model in the U.S.

Airline Pilot Central Forums (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/)

- Major (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/major/)

- - ULCC Model in the U.S. (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/major/125192-ulcc-model-u-s.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al Czervik (Post 2918537)

Bad example. MIA= all bets are off.

Add to that Central America and certain Caribbean islands (cough D.R.). I was always amazed at the complete mess those cabins were after a flight from those locations. Apparently they just assume the seat is a toilet and the floor is a trash can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flensr (Post 2918486)

My last flight as a Spirit FO, 2 pax peed in their seats and some lady must have been afraid her baby would be sucked down into the lav toilet so she had the baby poop in the fwd lav sink.

That kind of thing happened on my flights almost every month while I was there.

Need more be said?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aero1900 (Post 2918255)

I believe that the ULCCs in the US will survive and become an integral part of the industry. I'm pretty confident of that. What I don't know is how large they can become? Spirit and Frontier both have big growth plans and will have a combined 500 airplanes. What percentage of the market share will ULCCs become is the real question here.

If you listen to Frontier & Spirit management, they will tell you that the ULCC market in Europe is very large and it's very small here, so we have tons of room to grow. The difference though is that Europe doesn't have a SouthWest. Europe is more legacies and ULCCs, where Southwest fills the gap between the 2 here in the US.

I believe that the Legacies and ULCCs can healthily coexist in the US. It's different products for different consumers. There is a huge spectrum of consumers in the US, and I think there's room for both types of airlines to do well.

As a ULCC pilot myself, I hope to see the ULCCs do well, but I understand that it's a second tier airline. The latest round of contracts have pretty well settled that. I currently make about 15% less than my counterpart at United.

There are 2 questions that deserve further discussion.
1) How does Frontier/Spirit do during a recession?
2) Can they break into the transatlantic market? (Frontier has 18 A321XLRs on order)

Europe has a Southwest. It’s called Ryan Air.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 2918809)

Europe has a Southwest. It’s called Ryan Air.

Only thing is- WN is a desirable job while FR is a horrible company to work for...

I jump on Spirit quite often and agree that the crews are great and the clientele can best be described as “interesting”. I actually had a passenger offer to share his weed with me during a flight, which I politely declined. I had to gently remind him several times that he needed to refrain as well since he asked me several times throughout the flight if I minded it he “took a hit”. People watching can definitely be an endless source of entertainment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahlifer (Post 2918848)

Haha. That’s awesome.

Best part of working at Spirit is my interaction with any back of the house trash, is minimal. 99% is fine and the 1% that isn’t, well there is a person to call for that. The days of leaving the flight deck to handle an issue went the way of the dodo when the social media presence increased on planes

Ironically the only fecal/bodily fluid issues I’ve had the pleasure of having to call cleaners for was from the “comfort animals.”

At Spirit, I think some of the ‘interesting’ clientele we see has a lot to do with some of the city pairs we do and the fact that we don’t cater to business travelers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunrig (Post 2918836)

Only thing is- WN is a desirable job while FR is a horrible company to work for...

Yeah Ryan air is the demonic-possessed twin of SWA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunrig (Post 2918836)

Only thing is- WN is a desirable job while FR is a horrible company to work for...

I would say horrible is much to kind!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 2918809)

Europe has a Southwest. It’s called Ryan Air.

No.
Ryan Air is a ULCC. Southwest is a LCC. They are very different.

The European market is basically comprised of the big national legacy airlines (BA, Air France, Lufthansa) and the ULCCs (Ryan, Easy, Wizz). There really isn't an equivalent of Southwest in Europe, especially anywhere near its scale. Sure, the big national legacy airlines have tried to create their own LCC spinoffs but they are not like Southwest.

My point being, the ability for the ULCCs to achieve the same market share in the US as they have in Europe is hampered by the existence of Southwest here.