Car at training?
 

Former ACEY pilot - being given the opportunity to work for Spirit. (Very thankful!)

At IAH you had to have a car, because there was nothing but Subway, Hoots & Gumbo Jeauxs (and they eventually closed because of Covid).

How is FLL? During training do you need a car? IOE? I would assume reserve its a must.

Thx!

Not a must but for the sake of your insanity you won’t have to end up waiting potentially 30-45 mins for a shuttle ride back after a sim session. Totally doable without a car but it’s a great convenience to have

Lots of Uber and Lyft in Fort Lauderdale, I would not get a rental car, traffic is nuts.
Sold my house close to FLL and left town after 23 years.

Hey, welcome! I'm a former Acey pilot as well. You'll like it here.

Having a car is nice. My sim partner was from Orlando so he had his car with him. We drove together for sims.

As for what's around, looking at the map it looks like there's more things around the hotel now, including a Taco/Tequila bar right in front. Also there's a decent mall just across the road to the south. Out the back of the hotel and to the right is a Publix supermarket, about a 10 minute walk. So there is stuff around. I remember liking the training hotel here better than I did at Xjet.

Thank you.

I ended training during COVID. I hated bumming rides, and traveling to HOBBY for sims in the shuttle was bad.

Are SPIRIT IOE guys staying in the same hotel or do they go home?

The training hotels vary and alternate week to week. Some have kitchens, some don’t. Some have stuff around, some don’t. A car will make your life much nicer. It’s not a necessity, but it helped prevent me from going insane stuck in my room for two months.

A car will allow you to earn some extra cash doing Uber and Door dash, since you’ll likely be under the poverty line on training pay.

LOL... When I signed on at ACEY it was $36.71, which equated to $2300 a month... or $500 a week bring home roughly and there were no auto-throttles on those 145's.

That’s less than what you’ll make on training pay at spirit in 2023.

former XJT myself. Welcome. $23.05 was super fun :-)

Just be careful driving around here because the road rage is unlike anything I've seen anywhere else in this country. Don't use your blinker when merging or changing lanes as drivers will speed up to cut you off.

Also, I highly recommend having full coverage unless you drive a beater.

If you find yourself in IAH, thankfully all those places are still open and pretty decent. They even have an XJT sign in Hoot; it’s pretty cool! Yes agree on the car in IAH, I’m guessing FLL too.

I would be more worried about being shot than car coverage.

I did my training almost 4 years ago, so things may have changed. Obviously, having a car is nice, but not necessary. My class was at the Homewood Suites and the rooms have kitchens. Pretty good breakfast buffet and beer and wine for happy hour Mon-thurs. Publix is down the street for groceries. There are some fast food restaurants within walking distance but beyond that not much. I used to walk from the training center back to my room after my sim and FTDs because I liked the exercise and decompress. The shuttle service was reliable but not always timely on the return. A car would be nice for the weekends for entertainment, but you'll be busy studying the rest of the time. Good luck, welcome to Spirit.

Do they still do any initial training at IAH?

You will be in Ft Lauderdale for almost the whole time. You might go to Orlando or Dallas for a week of sims.

I drove a car 1000 miles to training and it was the best decision I made. With that being said, make sure Sheltair is going to have a parking permit for you. That’s not automatic.

I’ve had a car (that I’ve driven from home) every single airline training. Does driving super long distances suck? Yes. But it is and has always been worth it by a long shot.

They don’t issue parking permits anymore. Just park in the lot described in your welcome packet.

And yes, bring a car.

Wow! I have a ton of pictures of walking back and forth to that Subway during the pandemic. the hotel would only give us a styrofoam box of food at breakfast.

Thx everyone, for talking me through it.

“This one time..at my regional….”

is very quickly being replaced with “Well actually, I used to teach all my PPL students to do it this way…..”

you made me laugh for once!