8808

Hello, I am new to the forums. What a great place!! I was curious about QOL at Spirit. I live in south FL and was thinking of turning in my app. Is there a chance if hired that I could get FLL? Also curious about reserve schedules, how long to maybe hold a line, days off, health insurance, etc. Any help in making a decision would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for the response.

Dog Breath

Did you try using the Google search on the upper left side of the page?

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=0133180...irit&sa=Search

http://airlinepilotcentral.com/airli...cc/spirit.html

8808

I sure did. Didn't really find the info I was looking for. Was hoping to hear from somebody that works there. I found a lot of interview, ERAU talk but nothing about QOL. Thanks

NJGov

Good place to be right now. Classes of 8 every two weeks until June. After that the hiring stops until 2009. Current base to hire into is SJU. 23 crews based there, so any new-hire can be expected to stay there for awhile.

Training is top notch, a lot of great people here. It is difficult and fast-paced but better to get to line pay quicker, right? Everyone is there to help you and make sure you pass. They don't enjoy having or look for washouts (who does?).

New airline, a lot of inexperienced people on the lower end of the spectrum, but normally even more people willing to learn and help you out as best as they know how.


Noting some of your questions, health insurance (aetna) is negotiated through the CBA. It is available 90 days after your DOH. Rates are pretty reasonable. Pilot pay is decent and rumor has it to be getting better in the next contract.

Reserve schedules and days off is a hard question to answer right now because Spirit is in the process of opening three new bases, beginning April 1. Also, due to a downsizing at DTW some things will need to be shuffled around. I have 17 days off in March.

My advice is turn in the app, see if you get the interview, then worry about the details later. It is nice to do some company research but timing is everything. Every day wasted could put you behind on the seniority list.

8808

How would the commute be to SJU from FLL? I live just south of PBI and would prefer not to have to drive to MIA. The whole reason I was thinking of leaving current employer is the commute is terrible with our current schedules.

dundem

I don't think you will have too much probs commuting to SJU, last I checked there were about 5 flights/day on AA & NK combined from FLL.

On reserve it's a min of 12 days off in a 30 day bid period and 13 days in a 31 day period. Contractually we are supposed to get a min of 5 days off in a row, but they've only been doing min 4 in a row. On reserve you have 3 hours from being called to departure time, but generally crew sked tries to give as much notice as possible i.e. anywhere from the min up to 36hrs in advance.

I've heard that they hired about 11 guys from SJU that want to be based there- that plus the approx 4 that already bid for it means that 15/23 slots should be spoken for. The other junior bases are ACY/LGA and they have 8 each an it seemed like 4 guys each bid for them.

That hiring projection through Jun has been out there for a while- always subject to change. Could continue longer, unlikey shorter.

I think the overall QOL is good. As with everything in life, it could be better but could be much worse. If you are coming from a regional it will be a huge bump in QOL.