After making it through the rough first year at spirit, what can you realistically make second year and then on? I understand the upgrade time is increasing, but I also hear of fo’s that credit an insane amount.

 

Depends on your base and how senior you are. As a line holder with a few line holders below you, you can do 100 hours a month pretty easily. On reserve, it is really hard to credit over guarantee consistently.

 

I imagine FO premium time will continue for the same amount of years the legacy carriers are snagging pilots. So yes, years.

 

Last three first officers I’ve flown with credited over 170 hours last month. All said it could have easily surpassed 200 credit hours if they didn’t have plans on certain days. Getting 3-4 calls a day in MCO.

 

This right here... I would imagine if you live in base you could do pretty well. X list for FO's has been very busy for a while now and will continue for the foreseeable future. Not much that's being offered here to keep people around so soak it up while you can. At least until you move on too

 

Is there ever an opportunity to pick up trips that start somewhere besides a base? I am thinking IAH.

 

Yes. Last three first officers also had DAL interviews lined up. Common theme was Company making way too many one and two day trips.

 

Are there any opportunities to pick up premium trips out of IAH? Or do all premium trips need to start at a domicile?

 

I'm third year FO and I only work for premium pay. Best to live in base to live like that though, or somewhere that we service a lot like LAX or IAH or TPA.
Holding a line here right now as an FO is a pretty cushy life. How long to a line when everyone is getting in and right back out to a legacy is anyone's guess.

 

Results may vary. 3rd year guy here and I only average about 90 hours a month and working for it. The x and y really come into advantage for someone in base, I'm 3 from DTW and maybe get an X list every so often. Withthe reserve grid so red anymore it is difficult to drop trips to make yourself available. I try to open up the first week of every month and put my self on the x. If I don't get called I end up having to pick up from open time to make up for that first week. Some guys clear their schedule for the entire month and fly premium and most likely live in base. Premium pay really depends on seniority and living in base. Plus with all the 1 and 2 day pairings (which commuters drop) that is mostly what the x list consists of so usually only gonna pay 10 or 20 hours respectively. Guys getting 170 plus a month really is probably the exception and not the rule and know how to game the system.