Spirit vs Aviate
 

I am on the Aviate program with UA and short by about 18 months to reach the minimum Aviate requirements 1500 with PIC time or 2000 as SIC only.
I live in FLL and with UA I will be probably a commuter for ever.
I have been reading some bad things about the trends of Spirit is taking regarding very long Reserve times in bases, over 1year, upgrades forecasted to over 9years!
I have always heard positive things regarding the contract though. How bad is the Reserve in FLL nowadays? Should new FOs expect bare minimum days off (12off) a month for the whole period while on Reserve?
How the trips look like out of FLL in terms of 1/2/3 days when on Reserve and after that?
I have jumpseated with Spirit before and crews seen always super cool to work with.
Any other insights to consider regarding the F9 merge coming up, growth, attrition, so on and so far?
tks!

FLL junior line holder is a July 2021 hire, On reserve, you will get the bare minimum days off, but as you gain seniority, you will be called less often, so you can sneak a few days at home on call where you don’t get used.

Could you give an idea how the Reserve at Spirit? Short?Long? Any airport reserve?
Another big thing for me is the Travel Benefits perk!
I don’t mind spending some money for a Zed ticket, but is there any airline that opens Business Class option for NK employees?

If I were starting out right now there is no way I would come here if you have the potential to go to United. I'll be honest I don't know the details of the Aviate program but if it gets you to United I would stay where you are. Everything here at Spirit is subject to change with the upcoming merger from pay to reserve rules etc it's very hard to predict what will happen here. Currently we don't have airport reserve but again who knows with the merger. Our travel benefits are honestly terrible compared to most other airlines. We don't have any ZED with AA/UA/Delta or any ability to buy a ZED in Business/first.

The upcoming JCBA is an OPPORTUNITY, not something to be feared. And a year on reserve? Yeah, longer reserve time and delayed upgrade was a function of 10-11 months of damn near no flying during COVID. Without the massive early retirements and continuing age 65 retirements the legacies have, upgrade times are going to lengthen. But if you want Florida basing, NK has damn sure got them. Up to you to decide if risking the JCBA which unless both the F9 and NK ALPA unions screw it up (always a possibility) ought to bring serious improvements to BOTH money and QOL. Nor does going to NK preclude you from going to UA at a later date. The current attrition stats certainly prove that.

There’s some long call lines, but only a couple each month in every base. No airport reserve, 3 hour callout.

Well, it looks like you'll be commuting for your whole career.

Imagine being in flight school, most likely skipping regional airline life altogether, and needing to be convinced that flying an Airbus for a major airline would be a decent career starting point.

Nobody leaves another airline to come to Spirit. A lot of Spirit people are leaving to go anywhere else. That should be all that you need to know.

Pretty sure almost everyone is still leaving another airline to come to Spirit.

Leaving a Legacy to come to Spirit, of course not. But that's not what you said

Go to Spirit. Get the experience and then go to United. Aviate will only slow you down because they program is not ran well , very disorganized and nobody really knows what’s going on. It will probably take you 6 years thru Aviate, while if you go to spirit maybe 2 years max 3.

I heard you waste three whole days just going over yalls preferred pronouns and aviation racism.