dreadFOroberts

Considering applying to Spirit. Currently at a regional and have an unrestricted ATP and thinking about the next move - while a legacy might be nice some day, QoL/Schedule is most important to me so I wouldn't necessarily mind making a final destination out of the next step.

I'm on the east coast.

-How junior is ACY? It looks like a small base from what I can tell, but it would be drive-able for me. Is the flying out of there any good?

-ATL, DFW, MCO and FLL seem to be very commutable (in that order) from where I live (DC area) - do you have a commuter clause? What's the policy?

Most important question: for those of you who have been there <2 years or so: what do you wish you had known prior to applying?

Thank you, in advance.

-dread

DrSteveBrule

You arent getting ACY, best to get that thought out of your head.

PossibleDeviation

No idea about ACY. Short term you'll get it but long term, if any base will close with the merger, ACY will surely be it.

Commuter policy is great - 2 flights by report time (with no stipulations). You miss the first, company will buy you a ticket, release you from trip (NO PAY) or release you from trip and put on reserve for length of trip (WITH PAY).

Spirit, as it is now, is a known entity. Everything there is to know is on this forum. Unmatched lineholder QOL. What the merger will bring.... Hopefully the best of JB's and our CBAs. I'm at 1.5 years and have decided to gamble with the merger as QOL is my number 1 priority and even with the new contracts at legacies they don't match what we have here.

Czpilot

Can you explain more about NK QOL over legacies. I keep hearing it about it but no actual examples or facts. thank you.

CincoDeMayo

I will tell you once you get on with UAL and sitting hot reserve in IAH

Honestly this has been covered over and over. You are here and if you don’t see the benefits we have in the QOL vs legacy carriers, it’s probably best you move to a legacy. Hey, it’s a good move for a junior FO, not hating on it.

For those of us who have been here a while, it’s obvious. Do I want to do a contract comparison, nope; like I said, it’s been covered on here over and over.

Best of luck with the legacy gig application, honestly. If I was a new FO, I would be looking to leave. QOL is great, once you have some seniority, but no way would I want to be junior at the new airline/NK, with no retirements to be found on a narrowbody airline. Nope.

PossibleDeviation

It’s all been said many times over on this forum. Do the work in searching through or don’t. Or just go find yourself a 20+ year CA at “insert legacy here” who drools over the scheduling flexibility I have here as a 2nd year FO.

RemoveB4flght

For others who ask questions like “how is the flying out of XYZ base?”:
We are a point to point airline, not a hub and spoke model. Most multi-day trips it is unlikely you will pass through your domicile until you return on the last day, but it is not uncommon to fly into or layover in other domiciles. For this reason there is not really a lot of proprietary flying in one particular base that makes it wholly different from another. Because it is the most western base, there are more red eye flights that originate out of LAS, but that doesn’t preclude you from flying those same red eye flights on a trip that starts from another base, the same way that the red eye night turns out of FLL are not exclusive to pilots there. Seniority and location of domiciles are much larger factors than perceived trip quality.

As to your question about QOL, many parts of that are subjective and anecdotal. A line item contract comparison (excluding compensation) is difficult to compare without seeing the results in action. Apples to apples schedule quality and flexibility at Spirit tends to exceed legacy narrow body counterparts, which is an often something that those who have flown at both types of companies concede on these forums.

Attrition tells only part of the story while in the middle of an unprecedented hiring climate. Obviously those on the upper third of the seniority list have less to be gained from going to another carrier when taking into account their current schedules, the financial hit of starting over, and less time to recover seniority in their career span. Those in the bottom third tend to have more to gain based on those same considerations. The more interesting question would be those in that middle third, who would be more qualified legacy applicants based on 121 and narrow body experience. Do some of them leave, sure, but of those I’ve spoken with the reasons trend more towards either basing or widebody opportunities vs. lifestyle unhappiness. The other intangible for some is that we aren’t a fancy company and the nature of the operation and its clientele carries a stigma both with the general public and other pilot groups. Some pilots aren’t able to see past this and despite their contentment with work rules, and feel the need to seek employment with a carrier that more aligns with their perception of this career, and so be it.

TL/DR: If you need a bullet point argument for why Spirit pilots are happy with their QOL, a legacy pilot could easily list a number of counterpoints why they are. What matters more is if you can see yourself happy flying in our type of operation.

dreadFOroberts

Thanks for the information. ATL and FLL seem pretty commutable from where I am based on the number of flights/carriers operating to both from the DC area, so that's a plus. Probably takes less time to fly to ATL than it does to drive to ACY for me, so there's that. I've family in both FL and TX so I'm flexible on the basing concepts.

This is a terrific write-up - thank you. You're the first person I've seen acknowledge the "perception of the career" with respect to whom you fly for - I appreciate that perspective. I personally don't have an issue with the "discount airline" connotations but I do know folks who do. It doesn't get talked about much.

I didn't realize that it was a point-to-point system, but that's good to know.

JulesWinfield

Since no one answered, you can swap and drop your schedule more liberally at Spirit (as a line holder) and you get 4 days off after a sequence, that you can waive.

The discount airline stuff does get old. Everything is contracted out to a low bidder, so you’re constantly cleaning up other people’s messes. With that said, the flying is easy if you avoid redeyes, the hotels are mostly good, and the crews are good.

Excargodog

What Jules is saying is that even a nice hotel in OAK is still in OAK. But at least we don’t have anybody actually based there.