Originally Posted by Normann (Post 1414249)

I did not even want to get into this but exactly what A320Flyer said. I am a 6th year CA too. I just got the left seat.

We all know this is not SW and I am not trying to brag and I know our pay is lower than industry. It is. But we are a tiny company! 50 planes. I want to see how SW or DAL compared when they had 50 planes. Pay will go up here too with future contracts. Having said that I was able to make $128k with flying 860 hours as a 5th year FO due to the ability to bid conflicts and picking up OT. That was like $148 for each block hour. I finally got over $100k as a 4th year FO a year prior but I had to work harder that year. It is definitely harder to make OT lately so this will go down some. Also this is not the average, most guys made around $80-90k in my range but they had the days off. The conflict bidding means quite some soft time and days off, although most don't even take advantage of it or care to learn how to do it.

On average I fly 2.5h per leg, may be 2-3 legs per day but closer to 2. Some sits but nothing crazy like 2x4h same day. Some red eye stuff which definitely sucks but most of it can be avoided. Schedule integrity. Cancellation pay 100%. Some min guarantees are not that great like trip averaging but we have them at least. 8% 401k matching at 100%. Min 4 days off between trips. Vacation overlap drop. Commuter policy. Transition conflict handling is nuts. They drop it, you pick the same trip up again and you get paid for it twice. Or if you commute they drop it and you are pay protected and get the days off. Very decent hotels. Holiday Inn is considered bad here. Hiring like crazy, movement = most of us are happy. Labor hostile management but the good news is our union jumps into the ring for the contract all the time and calls the company out on the BS and we are winning one arbitration after the other. I can say "no" to my CP or scheduling whenever I feel like (as long I have the contractual right to do so). Profitable company which means job security. Mostly new planes and more coming. Upgrade will go down to 3 years for a while.

Tons of growth related problems since the company will step over a dollar to save a nickel. But they learn from it and fix things eventually.

I don't know what is Orbit's problem. United is hiring dude. Go for it! I am sure the majors can't wait for you to join their ranks.

Originally Posted by RideandDrive (Post 1414281)

Yeah, Spirit is profitable but it also has one of the worst management-employee relationships in the business.

There is a reason they are targeting RJ people. Anything looks good compared to a regional.

Originally Posted by DakBroadbent (Post 1414275)

I'm still trying to figure out what "Espirit," means.

Originally Posted by A320Flyer (Post 1414333)

Spirit with a Spanish accent. Controllers down south have a hard time pronouncing the "Spiritwings" call-sign. It comes out as Espiritween or Espirit. :p

Originally Posted by A320Flyer (Post 1414151)

Not weird at all. The airline is growing 20% per year. Currently 8 to 12 pilots upgrading per month. Most pilots taking captain slots are below me on the seniority list. Spent one month on reserve in my domicile after I moved to the left seat. Holding a 16 day off line next month.
Cheers

Originally Posted by RideandDrive (Post 1414281)

Yeah, Spirit is profitable but it also has one of the worst management-employee relationships in the business.

There is a reason they are targeting RJ people. Anything looks good compared to a regional.

Originally Posted by full of luv (Post 1414405)

Ok, now I see that by moving up you are referring to relative to the category and not in overall seniority number. I would find it hard to believe that with upgrades at 6 or less years there would be a lot of attrition from the top.
Aloha,
LUV

Originally Posted by hemaybedid (Post 1414403)

Espirit was a clothing brand in the late 80's, early 90's. I'm still... a regional fo. Hope I don't have that many years on you guys.