Honest question. Why would you come to Spirit?

Is that the base instability?
Is it the 'who knows who we're merging with'?
Is that the 'only F9 pay is worse that ours'?
Is it the less than McD's training pay?
Is it the no medical insurance for 90 days?
Is it the longest upgrades of any major?
Is it the annual epic meltdowns?
is it the 3 hour hold times for crew scheduling?
Is it the 2 day wait for hotel connections to get you a room?

I've heard the Hooked On Phonics 'thanks for calling Hewlett-Packard' radio calls for AA. WTF are you not there?

 

Longer upgrades than Southwest?

 

How do you figure?

 

C-c-c-c-c-combo breaker. He had all true and valid points and you interject with something like that? If anything upgrade times will drop given that a lot of low time pilots might not be at the 4K required hours when their number comes up.

 

I am curious as well why people are coming here now. With the regionals raising pay so much why not just hang out until a legacy calls?

 

It's a question... SWA upgrades are 8+ years to the left coast (approximately double to the east coast) and last I'd checked Spirit was around 4 years. has something changed drastically in the past year?

 

Spirit upgrade is right around 3 years now. Junior bases being ORD and DTW at the moment. However time to hold a line is much much longer.

 

I am a new hire and I know I do not have clout. I am sure this will cause a lot of discord, but to answer this question honestly, it was through word of mouth. Mainly during my Republic layovers when my crew would share a shuttle van with a Spirit crew, they seemed to have more nice things to say about their quality of life than bad things. Granted this was mid 2020- 2021. With that being said, I decided to apply to Spirit and was pleasantly surprised how quickly I was interviewed, hired, and all set up ready to go for training. I know its frustrating seeing other airlines coming out with TAs and voting new pay scales basically "overnight" but I am hoping Spirit comes up with a TA soon that will help offset the loss and possibly even make more than the job I left in less than a year. Am I being too naive to think Spirit will come through? We shall see! (Side Note, I am coming from a part 135 operator and convinced myself Spirit was going to be better in pay, schedule, and insurance in the long run.)

 

Not all regionals have raised pay, spirit has bases that would mean living in base instead of commuting for many, and less legs per day compared to a crj/erj

 

Personally I’m coming here to live in base and get flight time. Regionals offering pathetic 15 hours a month. Spirit is at least a place you can stay for several year even retire.