I paid back my $38k bonus plus over $1000 in interest to head to a legacy. I actually loved the captains and aircraft at F9, but burying my face in the terminal around ****ed off passengers grew very old, very quickly. That company is run by incompetence, and I don’t think it will be around forever.

You had a $38k bonus? Was that the 50k that was offered to FOs or were you a cadet with F9? Asking for a friend...

Really need a like/upvote button for this. I'm coming through the cadet ranks so I guess I'm part of the problem with management not seeing a need to offer a better contract if classes stay full, but there's no way the union is demanding any less than equal pay right? Do we just have to wait until management realizes they shot themselves in the foot to be treated like every other pilot group in the country? Being new to a pilot group in general, I'm more interested in learning from those who have been here and standing with them in contract negotiations rather than voting in garbage..

The company is basically saying unless they can find money in concessions they won't be coming to the table with raises. Part of the game to delay the process I guess, no interest in a new contract.

I’m pretty sure the financials will show the company doesn’t have money for raises.

Of course they will.

AA was 45B in debt when they gave their pilots a new contract....

Why don't we have money for raises? Not our problem. The problem is our management's poor judgment and misguided ideas that lead to poor performance and retention of passengers.

Increasing the cost of a ticket $5 to compensate for a new contract isn't going to mean no one will fly us. Somehow the emerald palace thinks that unless we are making our ticket prices as cheap as possible, we won't have any customers... We don't have customers because they are trying to make ticket prices as cheap as possible and cutting corners on the operational side which leads to a ****ed off passenger who doesn't want to return.

And Kirby is spending like a drunk sailor. And if I remember correctly United was losing some of the most money during Covid. They’re spending money to make money. Let F9 follow the same principal.

Forty five?

Not a cadet program, military rotor transition program. 50k minus the type rating and F9 direct joke. I’m eternally grateful for F9 giving me the opportunity to get my foot in the door, but I’m quite happy to be where I am today. I was escorted off the jet three times by law enforcement protection during my short stint there. It wasn’t confidence inspiring. Like I said, great jets and patient, mentoring captains. Everything else left the world to be desired.