Espirit of NKS
 

NKS isn't the place it needs to be - to be a career destination.

Incompetent management. (See base bidding debacle, ORD, DFW opening, etc)

Upper management running away like rats leaving a sinking ship.

Union intent is that every pilot makes no more than 72 hours a month. :-(

Every issue is "fly it and grieve it"

NO F'n KCM!

Did you hear me? NO F'n KCM!

At least we have this place and the spiritpilotboard for data and gouge. If not for beotch boards, we' be completely in the dark.

Had a bad day? ;)

Probably something he ate over at Bonedaddy's.

Not sure life is so much better at "career destination" places like... AA, UAL, etc....

I'm confused....management leaving a sinking ship? Who left? When is the last quarter when spirit wasn't profitable? Stock price doubled in less than a year, everyone I talk to there is happy.....again, what am I missing?

Orbit, who you work for?

Perfect place: no Nice place: YES

It's a job/career.... save the "perfection" for your life at home.

KCM??? there are very few places it even helps, most of the places it is out of the way.

I had KCM at xjt, took me longer, I was always stuck behind 13 flight attendants

You'd be behind those same 13 waiting for the X-ray machine. KCM is a good thing.

Yes, I do love when they walk up and have neither their ID nor their secondary identification ready and must dig through their giant bags.

And their 9 bags each!

dude right! Like its a surprise they need it,lol hahAhahaha so true

Cat carriers!

Minor issues... Pound for pound the most profitable airline period... I like here.. I like it alut!

Didn't say I didn't like it. Did say it isn't the place it needs to be to be a career destination. If you guys think it is, you must not be looking at real career destinations in comparison.

Mmmmmmmm, Bone Daddy's !

Exactly what would those things be in your opinion? We have a good contract, work rules, pay is decent, good 401K match, reasonable upgrade time, growth, and stability(for now.) I would be curious what a "real" career destination is anymore...please explain.

You mentioned this during your interview right?
Incompetent management? They have been ringing the register. Any talk around the water cooler (if we had one) about a BK?
These incompetent managers built up our market cap at 45 aircraft to the same as jetBlew with just under 200 aircraft.

Not to mention, they got the pilots to sign a concessionary contract, and even got the mec to help suppress pilot wages. You're right, what a bunch of idiots!

Just a guess,

We don't provide 1st class service,
Doesn't like the public we haul,
Paint on airplanes isn't cool,
HQ building doesn't look like VX's,
We don't have hats and double breasted blazers with gold buttons, (and a white scarf with googles)
IPAD's or EFB's,
Some poshy pilot lounge somewhere,

and...I cant think of anything else...oh

Big airplanes going far far away.
and of course KCM.

I'll take my plane, close the door, fly my flight, go home, get pay (never failed so far), enjoy my family, work on bikes. I say for me, NK it's my career just fine. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't, I hate to put up with cr0p that i don't like, i just quit.

My opinion.

Cheers

I haven't been here long enough to give much of an opinion but the one thing I noticed right away (and it means a lot) is the camaraderie amongst the group. Of course I hope next time around we get 401K match in excess of 10%, a higher hourly rate etc but as far as mgmt goes, they are running THE MOST profitable company. Sure you could run the largest airline, but they lost what? $700,000,000.00 last year? Im tired of working for failing airlines.

I haven't been here that long either but so far every Captain I've flown with has been great. For the most part the pilots are happy. The contract is descent and the company is growing and profitable. I've been at 3 other 121 carriers and so far this has been the happiest pilot group.

This is exactly why I was in Chicago and ill be in vegas in July and every other job fair they're at until I at least get a shot. I'm so tired of all the BS that comes from supporting the legacies. I want to work for a profitable company that knows their niche and serves it well. I want to work with guys who want to be there and truly believe in the product they deliver. Ill take all of this all day long over wide bodies and first class.

Well said, and I agree 1000%

Good luck, I hope you get a call from Spirit!

Thanks man! Did you end up getting a call from the Vegas fair? How long after did you get the call? Did you have any internals?

How long is it taking from the interview to getting a yes/no notification? How long until you can expect to get into a class?

Yes/No notification seems to be within a week.....although typically most hear back w/in a day or two.

Not sure about class dates. I suspect they would be fairly quickly after the acceptance of the job offer. I don't believe Spirit is running a pool; or if they are, it's not too deep.

My bud went from interview to class within 10 days. This was just now. He is in the last class that just started this week.

Wow! What a rant Orbit! Are you a new hire?! May not be the best airline in the world, but hey... I'm a 6 year captain here, got 19 days off this month (yeap, got a transition conflict that worked good for me), 59 block hours, 88 credit hours. Can pick up OT if I feel like it. 4-days off in a row, minimum. Flying PIC on many brand new A320's, with fun crews and very competent F/O's. Moving up on the list every month. Paycheck never bounced, 401K and checking account is getting bigger. Yes, we don't have KCM. Is it at the top of my priority list? Nope! Am I drinking the kool-aid? Absolutely not. There are many issues that must be improved and dealt with (i.e. premium pay, schedules, union politics and communication, etc.) However, if you hate it all as you imply, hey...go fly for jetBlue! You've got a A320 type-rating (oh, yeah...Spirit gave you that during initial F/O training, right?)
Peace!

I did. I attended the job fair in ATL in Nov 2012, then the job fair in LAS in Jan 2013. Got the long app a couple of days after the job fair But, then i never heard a peep. I was signed up for the job fair in ORD last Friday when I got the call for an interview last week. Went to the interview yesterday, hope all goes well.

Keep plugging away and don't give up hope. I was starting to, but through the encouragement of a great bunch of guys on here, I kept studying the ATP question bank, I kept updating my resume and I kept my phone charged waiting for the call. If I can get called for an interview... as the saying goes.

Good luck to the guys who just interviewed, a great group of guys and good luck to those that get called from the ORD job fair!

A320,
Why are you moving up the list so much each month? Is there a lot of retirements? Seems weird that a 6 yr captain would experience such good movement or do you mean that because NK is growing your percentage is going up? Just curious?
Aloha, Luv

Sounds like if you don't at least get the long app within a week of the job fair its safe to assume you weren't selected?

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

No. It's been repeatedly posted that it could take months. People from the LAS job fair are still getting emails.... sheesh. Read.

Thank you, I have been reading. From what I've read, I was under the impression people are still getting calls from LAS but got the email fairly quickly after the fair. With the wife and kids and so many other responsibilities, I don't always have time to read every single post in every single thread. I'm sure you understand. Thanks again for clearing that up!

The reserve rules here are pretty awesome, it's hard for them to use you,lol. That being said I seem to be the only one in ACY getting used n Reserve, lol Maybe they are trying to get me to 100hrs,lol.

No. Emails are still going out. I believe this was said at the job fair as well. I don't expect you to read every single post, but I've seen this info posted a few times in the last week.

Good luck on getting a call. I'm there are at least 400 of us refreshing our email daily. :p

Thanks you too! Yea I remember she said they're still calling people, I wasn't sure if they meant initial contact or not :-) I know of a few that got the email today, I've definitely been checking mine a lot lol. I was really impressed with the presentation on Saturday. Seems like a great place to work!

It does, at least from a QOL standpoint. I want to live in base, and I like their bases. I know a couple crew members and they love it. I'm not sure if it will be a great place to work 20 years from now though, that's the gamble in this business unfortunately. Let's hope they keep making money, stay true to the business model, and morale stays high.

Meanwhile, I need to refresh my inbox.

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.

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

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.

Worse than UPS:D ?


How do you mean they are targeting RJ guys? Seems like every major/legacy targets RJ guys to an extent... turbine PIC at a 121 operator. Please explain further.