The 2 jobs really couldn't be more different.

At Frontier you'll dor a fair amount of day turns, with short to medium length flights. At Atlas you'll fly long trips with even longer legs. 12 hours away from home vs 12 days away.

If you come to frontier I highly recommend you live in base

You enjoy QOL so follow the money. The money is not at Atlas, especially in the retirement contribution area…

Forgive the question but isn't Frontier a "major" now. I mean they fly the entire USA and have international presence in Caribbean and Central America.

With the arrival of the XLR, Frontier is a possible South America and "someday Europe" airline. The XLR is described by most as the modern Airbus version of the Boeing 757. So if someone yearns for "international", Frontier has it.

I would tend to agree with you, but there are lots of avgeek types that don't even consider WN a major - only the legacies earn the "major" airline designation. Shoot, they probably think WestJet isn't a major and they fly international wide bodies.

Just my two cents: F9 all the way. Better QOL, better schedules, better union, better management, and better pay. I fly a somewhat similar schedule (only day turns) and live in base at G4 and it is pretty good. Looks like F9 is in a very solid position to keep growing, probably the best position of any established airline (i.e., not commenting on Breeze or Avelo). But, I also have different priorities because of my family situation.

Man I had the exact same situation. Had a class in April at Atlas then got the interview and offer from Frontier right before I was supposed to start at Atlas. I went back and forth and decided it came down to the devil you know. I know 121 pax flying. Would have been a big leap into the unknown for less money over the years. Would have loved to do it for 6 months before getting the chance at F9 but timing didn't work out. Think I made the right decision though.

Opinions don't matter in this case. The term "major airline" is determined by revenue > $1 billion/FY.

Both Frontier and Atlas are major airlines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_..._United_States

I left Frontier 9 years ago. Currently Atlas 747 Captain.

it’s true the flying between the two couldn’t be more different. It depends on what you want to do or where you want to be in X number of years. I’m just now getting ready for a flight after spending 3 days in Tokyo. I have absolutely no regrets leaving Frontier. I felt you work too hard for the money there. While our pay is not the best, we do get a lot of soft pay. So far this year I’ve only flown 175 hours. I enjoy generally only showing up for work once a month. I have two weeks of vacation this June. With our contract, we have the option of taking the entire month off. I already have the last week of May off. For July I plan on bidding the latter half of the month. So that will give me about 6-7 weeks off in a row while only using two weeks vacation. Can’t do that at Frontier. Do you have to put up with 17 days of work in a row here, absolutely. Personally I prefer 60 day lines as it breaks it up into 3 work periods over 60 days. Company is responsible for getting me back and forth to home. No crashpads. No passengers (generally). It was the right decision for me.

bottom line is that if your lifestyle can support 17 days away (or more) then Atlas is the better flying for sure. Not everyone can do that so some people would be happier at a LCC. Not me though.

Not sure how young you are, but as others have said if I was in my twenties. I’d for sure go to Atlas, you have 40 years left in this industry (at least hopefully). So, I wouldn’t mind the possibility of giving up some seniority for the experience. But, I was never in that boat so I chose the LCC route and couldn’t be happier. Would have loved to fly the 747 though!

Sure can get 6-7 weeks off in a row with 2 weeks of vacation in separate, consecutive months at Frontier. I'm not sure what your definition of hard work is. If it's takeoff/landings then yes you work harder at Frontier. If it's days on vs days off (at home) then I would imagine Frontier wins that one. Like you said, it's very much personal decision, but Frontier is a different airline than it was 9 years ago.

I was told during an Atlas interview that your awarded schedule only guarantees what days you're away and that where you go is pretty fluid. I was told that you could be extended up to a week (21 days away???). I was told that your commutes into domicile are counted as imputed income and deducted from your paychecks. I have no idea if any of this is still the case but 3 years ago, they told us they were definitely getting a contract within the year...