Spirit diminishing QOL fact or rumor
 

From what I have read here in the forums the QOL and ability to drop down to zero by pilots have always been a great attractant to Spirit airlines. Recently on facebook I have been getting ads from spa.alpha.org that is basically bashing Spirit and talking about a rapidly diminishing QOL to pilots, saying some pilots are not even getting scheduled the guaranteed monthly minimum hours or days off that they were scheduled for. Is there any truth to this?

Drop to zero and 4 days off is still a thing. What they’re talking about is if you end up getting rescheduled into working a day off that puts you below min days off. The company has recently decided to interpret that they don’t have to give you another day off if that happens.

personally, I’ve experienced zero QOL changes. I can drop my whole schedule and rebuild it myself every month without issue. Minimum guarantee, drop to zero and reserve grid protection are contractual so they can’t just be changed or not honored on a whim.

Lineholders at NK have it pretty damn good. Reserve rules are going to need some improvement in the JCBA.

It may not be a zero sum game but much of that "pretty damn good" is on the backs of the "need some improvement" reserve rules.

no you got it right. The essence of seniority based schedules, is zero sum, definitionally. Thats why reserve wont improve substantively. Airline Pilots idea of class solidarity is "you'll be senior someday son" lol.

Context is important, Spirit went through its exponential growth phase over several contracts where time on reserve as a new hire or upgrade captain was minimal. I talked with a captain the other day who never did a single day of reserve at Spirit on either seat. Using negotiating capital on retooling the lackluster reserve rules wasn’t a high priority during these years.

Attrition has kept new hire reserve time low in the junior bases, but the reality of spending significant time on reserve in the senior bases as an FO and anywhere on the left seat post merger is going to be a real thing. Obviously green grids and drops are contingent on a robust reserve group, however lifestyle improvements could be made to reserve without having to sacrifice all the QOL that line holders enjoy.

Why does reserve have to be just for the junior seniority? If reserve has good work rules then it goes senior, which provides more lineholder opportunities for junior pilots who may commute and just want a real schedule.

What is a “senior” schedule? High credit day trips? Commutable 4day? 24hr layover in AUA 2day? It’s subjective and we each have our own priority. Mine (and many others at JB) chose RSV and will fight to get the best work rules as possible. Everything is important.

IIRC reserve at Southwest has 15 days off a month... Just saying...

Well I may be a minority here - but I love my reserve schedule. I work a max of five reserve shifts - have all day off the last day of the reserve shift, have four full days off, and can easily commute in for my first day back on reserve. Get called in MAYBE once a week. Beats reserve life at the regional 100 percent. I truly don’t see myself doing anything else.