I have a 737 type and never payed a dime for it.

 

How many Cadillacs a month did the Braniff guys buy after their bankruptcy? As mentioned earlier, hourly rates aren't everything. When the TA is presented I'll decide if my QOL will diminish or not and if its worth the 80K more or so difference I'll be making. I don't live beyond my means like most and am very comfortable with my current income.

I love how pilots turn this into a d*%k measuring contest. Most outsiders have no idea that we have zero protections from an imminent merger or buyout! Most do not know we have almost zero protection if a medical is lost! Heck, most don't even know we fly Airbus's and have 5 days off(to the max extent) between pairings!

 

I can't tell you how many times (as a Spirit pilot) I've jumped on United, Delta, AA, etc. and was asked by the Captain what aircraft I fly. Most outsiders have no clue about anything involving Spirit.

 

Its in reference to forgetting about trends and history when times are good. FYI pensions are not controled by the company anymore they are funded outside of it and managed by a 3rd party. This adds protection.

 

No, we don't. And don't mistake what I think could happen as wishing it would. I have good friends at UAL trying to pay the bills and raise the kids just like the rest of us. And having been furloughed it's the last thing I'd wish upon friend or foe.

But I think NK is a better product to weather the next economic downturn than UAL is. It's coming up on 10 years since the August-October 2008 near crash and I feel another, but hopefully not as severe, recession is due. I would sleep better being on the bottom of NK's seniority list than I would UAL's but that's just my opinion. Hopefully the retirements will offset the need to furlough anyone when the time comes. I hope in five years we can all look back and get a good laugh at how far off my prediction was. I'll even buy the first round.

We were nearly dead last in compensation when we started this three years ago facing a hostile moderator and an NMB that is 'ranking' airlines in terms of scale and compensation. As long as the details aren't dorked up then I'll be happy with what has been proposed. I would rather make 90% of what others think I should make for the rest of my career than to temporarily be leading the pack during the historical boom/bust and industry leading/concessionary contracts while sweating furloughs, mergers, and bankruptcies. Flying and making $240/ hour is far, far better than watching others make $266/ hour while awaiting recall.

And make no mistake, the outside input and opinions are appreciated. It's good to hear others points of view, especially during such complex and drawn out negotiations. After we get the details we'll all have to dig in deeper and have a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly and weigh our wants against our risk tolerance.

 

Ya and zombies could attack tomorrow. Fact is no one knows what’s going to happen. You have your opinion and so does everyone else.

I think this looks pretty good for you guys. Not a home run by any means but definitely solid compared to what you had.

I wish you all good luck.

 

I understand the outside opinions and largely agree with them. However this is Spirit with our own set of issues.

If we vote yes we start the clock on negotiating for the next contract to get even more gains. If we vote no, we likely will have to wait 2 years just to get a similar TA. I'm not willing to be out of the cash for another 2 years and push the next contract down the road 2 years or more.

I always vote no on everything. This time I'm voting yes because this is the best deal we can get and a no vote will keep us at this low pay for a very long time.

 

Just a few things to think about.

- On our pilot calls they said if we took PBS more pay would come?

- Look at the percentage of increase our CEO receive for his pay increase?

- If we can't compare our selves to the Legacies how about Alaskan?

- When you make a big investment like buying a car do you take the first deal they bring to you?

When you vote on this contract think about those things and are we still low cost pilot?

 

Yeah, no thanks. I’m good with the 401k and knowing it is mine. Managed pensions are at the whim of the markets also. Plenty of municipal pensions around the country still underfunded.

 

You didn't read/follow the whole post, did you? It's been paired down/questioned that DAL didn't have a higher rate than these "industry leading rates" you speak of. 2012 was the highest published rate AT THAT TIME for DAL. When people look at rates, their USUALLY looking at the highest rate published, amendable date. Soooooo, I used 2012 rate because that's the highest published rate EXISTING AT THAT TIME. But if you want, I can include DAL 2010 and 2011 as well to compare them to Spirit's 2010 and 2011, and subsequent. If you got them, post them.

I don't have DAL 2006 numbers, but I do have the DAL 2009, wanna compare?

True on the pensions, but when was the company's DC plan put into effect? And since you included a time frame from current, show me ALL DAL pilots with a shed pension. I'll wait........

True, but then again, if a company wasn't paying very well to begin with, there's not much to give back....

Fair enough.

As I posted above, give me the Spirit post strike rates from the agreement after the strike till the amendable date. I'll wait.........

BTW, what was the amendable date?

^^^^^^^^^