Originally Posted by Morada

I wouldn’t say I’m arguing a point per say. But if a candidate is looking at which airline to work at for instances, it would be in their best interest to have an idea of probability on upgrading. At spirit the only way someone will upgrade or move up in seniority is based on growth and at a legacy it’s likely going to come from retirements over growth.
It will be interesting to see how the applicant numbers look once we cross that 3000 pilot mark. Also interesting to see if we start losing people to legacies again like in the past once they realize upgrade might not happen based on current order size.

Originally Posted by Morada

I wouldn’t say I’m arguing a point per say. But if a candidate is looking at which airline to work at for instances, it would be in their best interest to have an idea of probability on upgrading. At spirit the only way someone will upgrade or move up in seniority is based on growth and at a legacy it’s likely going to come from retirements over growth.
It will be interesting to see how the applicant numbers look once we cross that 3000 pilot mark. Also interesting to see if we start losing people to legacies again like in the past once they realize upgrade might not happen based on current order size.

Originally Posted by Morada

I understand that we need to get our current staffing issues strait and focus on growing the company with the current order.
The reason I bring up future growth plans is for anyone considering employment at Spirit. From a numbers standpoint if someone is not hired with a seniority number below 3000 they might not ever make captain, or at least it will take a very long time based on 293 aircraft. The optional 50 might be used to replace aircraft coming off lease so there is no way to know what the aircraft count will end at.

So with that being said I wanted to know what everyone’s crystal ball was saying for long term airline growth perspective.

Originally Posted by MCDUmanipulator

Ramper situation will be fixed as soon as the government covid benefits run out.

Originally Posted by TransWorld

I understand one can make $47,000 per year from Unemployment and Covid. That’s $22 per hour with no more exertion than a weekly trip to the mailbox. Not much of a motivation to go to work and exerting one’s self.

Originally Posted by JulesWinfield

Someone who made ~$10/hr before being laid off would make around $200-$300/week on state unemployment. With the $300 federal kicker, they're looking at around $600/wk max, so around $15/hr on the high end, and way less in lots of states. The federal kicker is ending soon, so they'll make around minimum wage. From what I've seen, the states that ended Federal kicker early are still having issues getting unskilled laborers, suggesting that a lot of these workers moved on to better jobs, but there isn't much data yet.

Originally Posted by SSlow

Also keep in mind that some people still aren't paying rent due to the eviction moratorium.

unemployment + stimulus money + no rent = more discretionary income

Trust me, once the money dries up and rent is due again there will be plenty of folks looking for work.

Originally Posted by TransWorld

I understand one can make $47,000 per year from Unemployment and Covid. That’s $22 per hour with no more exertion than a weekly trip to the mailbox. Not much of a motivation to go to work and exerting one’s self.

Originally Posted by Halon1211

I just finished a trip and talked to a ramp worker that was very excited to get hired. He said the “work release” program is very beneficial, and he know a lot of his mates starting soon too!

Originally Posted by Aquaticus

Just a little bit of insight from UA but traditionally our highest earners were narrow body Captains that played the system. The widebody flying has the prestige and the better hotels. It hoovers the very senior off of the narrow body fleets allowing more "junior" people to do quite well and bid a higher % in their seat. The narrowbody fleets have much smaller trips that you can piecemeal into a very productive schedule that just isn't possible on the widebodies. Living in base allows you to pick up premium pay and work less days for the same pay at pretty much any airline.

The best thing about United is the fleet mixes and different flying. You can experiment and see different types of flying from island hopping Guam, to polar flying, or short and long Europe. The comments about flying with grumpy ex-mil aren't true but we do have militant pro-union people and a more pronounced union than I think I was expecting. I left a LCC to come here and uniteds domestic operation only feels like a small part of the airline. The international and widebody flying is a completely new and fun to learn side of the airline for most of us. We are a small cog in a much bigger machine where we just fly the plane. Flight attendants handle most everything before it comes to us, maintenance/dispatch/scheduling all just work, and any reasonable expense will be reimbursed (aka your not waiting for hotels/vans/meals). I do feel like a professional when I come to work. At smaller airlines I felt that they relied on pilots to chase down and beat the square peg into the round hole to make things come together. Best of luck with your decision!