How many NK pilots are there now, 2400? And if so, where does exactly half way (1200?) fall in terms of DOH. Just curious.

October/November 2015

1200 DOH 3/7/2016
Most junior CA upgrade awarded a couple weeks ago 1425 DOH 2/11/2017

Upgrade is going pretty jr because no one wants to be on reserve with our new and improved reserve rules. I know quite a few guys bypassing until they can hold a line, honestly I would too.


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Don't think profit sharing does much? Seriously? A second year FO at delta gets over 20k a year in profit sharing alone. Captains make 50+ in profit sharing a year.

So you hope in about 15 years we get close to Legacy so we can have long term or lifer FOs in the 2030s and beyond? Do you mean to say something else?

Profit sharing is HUGE and we absolutely need to get it in our next contract if not sooner.

That’s years worth of bypass in some bases.

In the mean time, keep saving those APUs!

He said making the switch from a CA slot, profit sharing doesn’t matter as much. And that’s correct, profit sharing would matter little in my decision to leave the left seat for right seat legacy.

So do you guys leave your wife when/if you can score a “hotter” and younger version? Ever heard of the concept of “contentment” in ones life? You can strive for more at Spirit, work to achieve it, and still be content with your life and not be at a Legacy. You guys act like you’re on food stamps. We will make more over these next 3 years and hopefully continue the trend moving forward.

Show of hands, how many loudmouths on here who speak a big game, came to a picketing event?! Figures.

Back to me enjoying my weekends off, holidays off, line holding CA in base, and extra money each month that I simply need to find a place for. Yeah, life sucks! And if this place stays afloat, more of all that time come.

Oh ok. So is it 2400 total?

Actually the most junior capt award last bid was 1455 DOH 3/11/2017.

Psssst....you might want to look at the final awarded bid....not the first that what if bid that came out for the DEC CUG class. The final awarded Captain went to 1422 in the 2/11/17 class. Not a big deal but...

So I currently have 27 days off in November. Can't say that happens easily at a lot of the places people are touting as "better deals." Of course my paycheck will have something to say about that.....:eek: :D

I'm off the whole week of thanksgiving and I didn't have any vacation slated for November. I don't know about other airlines but I'll go out on a limb and say that this isn't very realistic anywhere else.

Also I am not one of those types who needs to credit 90 hours a month for some baller lifestyle living in a million dollar pad with a trophy wife, two girlfriends, and a Maserati.

2312 counting all September classes. Each month we have additional 64 or so right now. So I guess will be 2400 sometime in November.

you are right! I stand corrected. Thank you for pointing out.

Chiming in, maybe out of my element...similar story at F9. No vacation, not super senior in base, have the holiday (and then some) off and over guarantee. I don’t have a million dollar pad either but my wife’s mood swings sometimes make it feel like I have her and two girlfriends. Definitely more of a truck guy than Maserati. Anyway, as a “no” voter I hate to admit it...work rules are a “thing”. No place is perfect but there are reasons that NK/F9 aren’t bad places to hang a (non-mandated) hat.

I did. And I Checkerboarded a Reserve day to make it happen. No Joke.

That being said, despite being a very vocal NO voter and still occasionally thumping my chest over it, I'm still happy working here. But it is okay to enjoy life while still thinking about what could have been done better.

This applies to all facets of life, not just your job.

Completely depends on age. Remember UPS gets 12% direct contribution PLUS pension/defined benefit. The only one that comes close because of their large profit sharing is Delta. No one else can match Fedex or UPS in that sense.

A 45 yr old with 20 years at UPS would walk away with roughly $84k per year for the rest of his life, on top of the 12% he/she had been getting for 20 years. Fedex approximately $100k. Both plans are very well funded. NO ONE can match that, Delta maybe doing some TMV computations.

3 yr Captain at Spirit is roughly $203, 3yr FO at UPS is roughly $192. How much above guarantee can a new Captain on reserve make?

Money is not everything! Some people don’t like cargo, and vice versa. If I were a 4-5 yr Captain at Spirit, at my age I would definitely not leave. QOL for Captains should improve more rapidly at Spirit due to continued growth. UPS Captain movement for a junior guy is VERY SLOW. And don’t think it will accelerate much when we hit peak retirements in 4-5 years.

There is most definitely not a right or wrong answer.

Upgrade will continue to go junior since Spirit reserve rules are pretty much the worst in the industry.

Hmmm, Not pretty much, actually THE worst.

Home run.

Oh I forgot about our amazing reserve rules of how the company can't change our RSV availability period, yet seniority is totally ignored when awarding this. Other companies might be able to change callout, but at least it is paid as a penalty and the original call out time is based on seniority not some random bull****

Yes, I'm salty

Should have seen the reserve system at my last shop. There’s always something worse.

"It's better than my Regional." :D

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Be glad we don’t have airport stand by like some majors.

IDK, 4 months as a FedEx CA on Reserve and I've only had 2 of those. You usually just go in, get a sleep room, and sleep thru it.

But we can Drop/Swap/Move our Reserve days. As well as, pickup on our days off. :rolleyes:

And pick RA, RB or R-24 per seniority in the Monthly Bid.

Nice! 👍
I’m glad you’re happy.

Haha..thats the thing...Its not a regional. I don't have to be glad we dont have ridiculous things found at regionals, like Hot Reserve.

Oh man, the day we start measuring our happiness based on what we dont have to do that regional pilots do, the bar gets that much lower. Now I get why so many have a fit when someone says "better than my regional."

Pretty sure either United or AA has it.

Bruh, just go to delta. 2020 starting January, if the world doesn't end, will be a 12-month, 125-a-month hiring push. You'll be well rewarded for short call airport reserve-like living.

i think Alaska has it too? I'm not 100% sure

Alaska has by far the worst rsv system because they define days off as 24hr periods not calendar days. It’s unbelievable and all because senior guys think rsv is supposed to be junior and suck. It never occurred to them that they might want rsv if the rules were good.

Southwest has probably the second worst not because of poor work rules but because they use you like a line holder every single month. If the company is going to work you that much without exception then there’s really no point to being on rsv.

I don’t think any majors have airport standby but I stand to be corrected.

We lost a lot on rsv but not the worst... yet

But sw reserves have 15 and 16 days off (for 30/31 bid periods)

So no matter how ****ty you think they have it, we have it worse.

^^^ this also they typically have 3 on 4 off. Not 6 on 4 off which is terrible.


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United has ready reserve, but I think it’s only a 4 hour shift. I know AA does not have ready reserve. No idea about the widget group.

That would have to be a pretty handsome reward to get me to live in ATL, DTW, MSP, or whatever hell hole of a domicile they have in the northeast. I think I'll just chill here and join the under 35 Airbus CA club living in base in Florida.

That the Spirit!!

(See what I did there??). :D

Indeed it is!! And it's what works best for me, but my situation is different from most.

That’s true but if you have to work all the rsv days and 85hrs of block the days off seem well insignificant compared to 12/13 days off and only getting used half or less of the time and 30 hrs of block.

Of course theirs is contractual and I have seen a small trend of rsv utilization going up here.

Who says they're getting used every reserve day?

Just so we aren't spreading falsehoods: I'm a DFW CA and have been used at least once almost every RSV block for nearly 2 years.

Edit: There was one month just after contract DOS that I didn't get called once, but that was an anomaly for sure.