Any "Latest and Greatest" about Spirit.
02-14-2021, 04:42 PM
#751
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,269
Really just depends where you live. MCO was pretty good to me before covid. If you live somewhere with early flights in and a late flight out you should be good. I happened to live somewhere that had just this so it was rare I couldn’t make it home after a trip.
You could also usually swap your trips for stuff that was more commutable before covid. However commutable stuff most often pays less that the uncommutable stuff due to the trip rig. And if you’re bidding for it you’re going to work more days per month. If you’re swapping them and you start adding it up it’s a lot of money you’re leaving on the table to not get a hotel. Swapping that uncommutable 24 hour 4 day for a 20 hour commutable trip costs captains ~$900 and non first year FOs ~$450. Starts to add up quick if you do that several times a month.
02-14-2021, 08:17 PM
#752
Line holder
Joined APC: Nov 2013
Position: On the bus,seat 0A
Posts: 3,274
Really just depends where you live. MCO was pretty good to me before covid. If you live somewhere with early flights in and a late flight out you should be good. I happened to live somewhere that had just this so it was rare I couldn’t make it home after a trip.
You could also usually swap your trips for stuff that was more commutable before covid. However commutable stuff most often pays less that the uncommutable stuff due to the trip rig. And if you’re bidding for it you’re going to work more days per month. If you’re swapping them and you start adding it up it’s a lot of money you’re leaving on the table to not get a hotel. Swapping that uncommutable 24 hour 4 day for a 20 hour commutable trip costs captains ~$900 and non first year FOs ~$450. Starts to add up quick if you do that several times a month.
You could also usually swap your trips for stuff that was more commutable before covid. However commutable stuff most often pays less that the uncommutable stuff due to the trip rig. And if you’re bidding for it you’re going to work more days per month. If you’re swapping them and you start adding it up it’s a lot of money you’re leaving on the table to not get a hotel. Swapping that uncommutable 24 hour 4 day for a 20 hour commutable trip costs captains ~$900 and non first year FOs ~$450. Starts to add up quick if you do that several times a month.
If you live in base TAFB is the number. If you commute TAFH (Time Away From Home) is what I look at. I am a commuter, so every trip I have to give myself two (covid = 1) options to get to work. I am lucky so we have hourly service, and it is a two hour flight, so I get to the airport 4 hours before check-in. Same for the commute home, so I spend 8 hours commuting for every trip. I do 4 trips a month, 12 months a year, minus vacation, so 8 x 4 x 11 = 350 hours. We get paid 1 hour for every 3.5 hours TAFB, so 100 hours I don’t get paid for compared to someone my seniority who lives in base (not complaining, I choose to commute). Before tax, including DC about $25K per year.
Every hour I am in my base not getting trip rigs costs me about $75. The $50 I pay for the hotel is totally irrelevant, getting home is more important, so I will always pick the commutable trips.
02-15-2021, 06:19 AM
#755
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,269
So this is how I do the math:
If you live in base TAFB is the number. If you commute TAFH (Time Away From Home) is what I look at. I am a commuter, so every trip I have to give myself two (covid = 1) options to get to work. I am lucky so we have hourly service, and it is a two hour flight, so I get to the airport 4 hours before check-in. Same for the commute home, so I spend 8 hours commuting for every trip. I do 4 trips a month, 12 months a year, minus vacation, so 8 x 4 x 11 = 350 hours. We get paid 1 hour for every 3.5 hours TAFB, so 100 hours I don’t get paid for compared to someone my seniority who lives in base (not complaining, I choose to commute). Before tax, including DC about $25K per year.
Every hour I am in my base not getting trip rigs costs me about $75. The $50 I pay for the hotel is totally irrelevant, getting home is more important, so I will always pick the commutable trips.
If you live in base TAFB is the number. If you commute TAFH (Time Away From Home) is what I look at. I am a commuter, so every trip I have to give myself two (covid = 1) options to get to work. I am lucky so we have hourly service, and it is a two hour flight, so I get to the airport 4 hours before check-in. Same for the commute home, so I spend 8 hours commuting for every trip. I do 4 trips a month, 12 months a year, minus vacation, so 8 x 4 x 11 = 350 hours. We get paid 1 hour for every 3.5 hours TAFB, so 100 hours I don’t get paid for compared to someone my seniority who lives in base (not complaining, I choose to commute). Before tax, including DC about $25K per year.
Every hour I am in my base not getting trip rigs costs me about $75. The $50 I pay for the hotel is totally irrelevant, getting home is more important, so I will always pick the commutable trips.
That’s way more in depth than anything I do. I just look at how much money I’m going to lose by swapping into a commutable trip. If it’s an hour then sure. If it’s 4 hours then I’ll stay in a hotel. Also it’s not like you’re spending a whole day away from home. Usually if you go in a day early you can take the last flight out and basically have a full day at home. Same when you’re commuting home. Usually you get home early enough to be able to enjoy most of your day unless you’re commuting across the country.
I also don’t bid for commutablility as I’ve always ended up working 3 or 4 extra days that month compared to if I bid for max daily credit. But either way it doesn’t really matter, Spirit is a relatively commuter friendly airline and there are ways to make it more commutable by bidding or swapping.
02-15-2021, 06:58 AM
#757
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,185
That’s way more in depth than anything I do. I just look at how much money I’m going to lose by swapping into a commutable trip. If it’s an hour then sure. If it’s 4 hours then I’ll stay in a hotel. Also it’s not like you’re spending a whole day away from home. Usually if you go in a day early you can take the last flight out and basically have a full day at home. Same when you’re commuting home. Usually you get home early enough to be able to enjoy most of your day unless you’re commuting across the country.
I also don’t bid for commutablility as I’ve always ended up working 3 or 4 extra days that month compared to if I bid for max daily credit. But either way it doesn’t really matter, Spirit is a relatively commuter friendly airline and there are ways to make it more commutable by bidding or swapping.
I also don’t bid for commutablility as I’ve always ended up working 3 or 4 extra days that month compared to if I bid for max daily credit. But either way it doesn’t really matter, Spirit is a relatively commuter friendly airline and there are ways to make it more commutable by bidding or swapping.
Even as a commuter I’m still able to credit over 80+ hours fairly easily. I stay maybe 2 nights a month at a hotel. With how cheap our crew rates are now it’s not a big deal at all.
It all depends on the base. I’m giving up very few “days off” and money commuting. As mentioned, DFW and ACY run different types of trips/schedules.
02-15-2021, 07:25 AM
#759
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,185
Obviously I’ve never tried that, but when I needed a big stretch of days off, I bid Long Call Reserve and told the system Waive to 1 day off.
It built 6 on 1 off, 6 on 1 off, then I had the 10-12 days I needed off, and then I finished the month with 6 days on.
Even if you didn’t get what you needed (on your award) right away, once Covid is over Daily Open Time will have lots of trips you can swap into. Worst case you can drop what you need and get the time off.
The flexibility here is pretty incredible and the major reason I will never be leaving.
02-15-2021, 08:05 AM
#760
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2017
Posts: 265
You have to have your 30 hours off every 7 days, of course, but yeah you could tell the system to waive days off to 1 and pattern bid for 2-4 day trips, or 3 and 3 in a row, then a day off, rinse and repeat.
Obviously I’ve never tried that, but when I needed a big stretch of days off, I bid Long Call Reserve and told the system Waive to 1 day off.
It built 6 on 1 off, 6 on 1 off, then I had the 10-12 days I needed off, and then I finished the month with 6 days on.
Even if you didn’t get what you needed (on your award) right away, once Covid is over Daily Open Time will have lots of trips you can swap into. Worst case you can drop what you need and get the time off.
The flexibility here is pretty incredible and the major reason I will never be leaving.
Obviously I’ve never tried that, but when I needed a big stretch of days off, I bid Long Call Reserve and told the system Waive to 1 day off.
It built 6 on 1 off, 6 on 1 off, then I had the 10-12 days I needed off, and then I finished the month with 6 days on.
Even if you didn’t get what you needed (on your award) right away, once Covid is over Daily Open Time will have lots of trips you can swap into. Worst case you can drop what you need and get the time off.
The flexibility here is pretty incredible and the major reason I will never be leaving.
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