My favorite part of the roadshow was when PS said that we need to tell our buddies at Delta to step up their game.

 

Long time ago I had a distant cousin go into the car sales game. Year or so later I’m chatting with him in the corner of a backyard family bbq, and he’s now a walking meme of car salesman: white button down with dockers, slicked back hair, pencil-thin mustache, sunglasses, pinky ring, cell phone on the hip, faint wisp of cheap cologne mixed with recently smoked Newport. Anyways after a few beers he’s telling me all the trick and dirty little secrets of the car biz, holdbacks, kickbacks, F&I… but what stuck with me the most is when he said this:

“No matter how much you negotiate or stomp and scream and threaten to get a deal, if the salesman & manager are smiling and happy for you when drive away, it’s because we figured a way to money out of you”

We already saw how quick Bendo praised the efforts of the TA when it came out. Watch when this thing passes how overjoyed and congratulatory they will be towards the pilot group…

 

"Building our legacy" is raising the bar and at least staying in the ballpark of what everyone else is getting. Market rates for airbus pilots are $xxx/hr. It really is that simple.

Even the regionals figured out how to step up their game when the mass exodus hit and the applicant pool dried up. The market evolved to meet the demand for a tightened labor supply, and it is no different for the ULCCs. Either they will figure out how to make it happen, i.e. the ultra low cost model will be forced to change to meet these new demands, or the whole model will go under and it will make the industry a better place for us and those behind us.

Trust me, I ain't worried about finding another job if this doesn't work out. In this competitive labor environment there is virtually no chance a pilot group and a shiny new fleet of A320s is just going to dissolve overnight and not get scooped up.

And if that does happen pretty much everyone is hiring and making solid coin by year 2, even in the right seat.

 

To be clear you can vote no and want the best for the company, to make it a place people want to stay. If new hires leave it’s because the company hasn’t raised pay enough, hasn’t offered insurance from day one, and still have people on training pay for months. This TA doesn’t fix any of that, sure it raises first year pay but most of the rest of the years pay even with the raise aren’t industry standard, or even non-legacy rates (JB and AK). So yes folks can want the best for this place and vote no. If people leave that’s on the company to fix (or send a TA out that would actually fix the attrition problem).

 

It will be a point that you'll have to vote with your feet.

 

Y’all do know that the votes are shielded from the union right? It’s literally in the disclaimer that you acknowledged when you voted lol.

 

They’re either not Spirit pilots or are bots…. In which case, Elon needs to get on it, stat!

 

As a new hire myself and talking with most of my peers, this TA would would make it hard for them to consider leaving. Most of us came here for the scheduling system as line holders and this TA would slow the bleeding significantly opposed to the ladder which would include a possible mass exodus of pilots. I want the best for this place too because I chose to be here. On the other hand, as considerate as you may be, you should rejoice that over 20% of the pilot roster is not eligible to vote.

 

So you came here for the scheduling, but only if the scheduling includes this TA being voted in? Did you somehow apply, interview, and get hired in the span of this first being announced?

 

Let's just cement ourselves to the bottom as the lowest paid Airbus drivers. Do you really want what's best for this place because it sure doesn't sound that way. That's pretty short sighted just for a quick buck. And as you said, you chose to be here. You knew the pay when you applied but now you want to sell the group short...