Yep, that just happened...

I take it with the news in the last week that Frontier is increasing the first year pilot pay to $90 an hour with a minimum $75 hour guarantee that Spirit will still NOT increase the first year pilot pay?

Lemme know if my logic checks here. From reading on here the reason I'm assuming that is the way the pay works with Spirit is that you cannot just adjust up the pay for the first year First Officers but for everyone. Also from reading on here with the merger the management is focused on other things. Finally, with the merger there could be a lot more pilots applying to Spirit, but I'm not sure if that is actually the case.

The company can’t unilaterally change first year pay here. They’ll have to come to an agreement with the union to raise first year pay. I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Pretty close. Our contract doesn’t allow management to unilaterally change first year pay on their own. So any raise in any pay rate/longevity with Spirit would need an LOA, outside of a CBA. And the union won’t agree to any raises to help the company’s known attrition while ignoring the other 2600 pilots who have invested years at this airline.

Whether management decides to increase rates via a LOA, TPA, or section 6 negotiations, is an unknown right now.

Have no idea if applications are up. I know they are going to Australia and snagged some swell Aussies who can’t wait to fly for Spirit. And that’s good for them because their visa only allows them to fly for Spirit. They can’t leave.

And that's a great thing!

I don't think anyone has those numbers, but I would be surprised if it were anything more than a negligible amount. I mean it's not like we are being bought by United or anything.

I don't say that to scoff at JetBlue as I'm sure we'll get a great contract together, but with the legacies lowering the bar in terms of hiring this year I think most are still focused on the big 3.

If anything I would bet we start seeing less pilots applying here since the juniority of the FL bases are jeopardized now with the merger, and let's be honest that was a big reason for so many applying here.

I disagree. I think we are about to see a lot of regionals fail, and their junior FOs will hit NK knowing that they will at least have B6 to buff their resume eventually.

Why are we fighting for any pay raise increase other than 12 yr scale? You're only going to be at year 1-11 for one year right? Year 1-11 should pay no more than $60/hr. I propose a pay decrease for all years under 11 and roll the savings to year 12

Nah, the legacy carriers need regionals like Mesa to "do more with less" and in turn subsidize their profits. They won't just let them all go under like that.

It's kinda like COVID, they may become less prevalant but they'll never go away. The Jonathan Ornsteins of this world can promise us that much...

watch Air Wis…