Sounds like you need to be 23 then, unless I'm missing something

It’s pretty amazing to me that the people involved in the hiring don’t know what you need to be a pilot here. Which is an unrestricted ATP. It’s embarrassing but the more I think on it, not surprising. You can get hired with a restricted ATP if that restriction can be lifted at your type ride at Spirit. If you will not be eligible for the restriction to be taken off by the time you go to the checkride bc you aren’t 23 then you cannot fly at spirit. This is to the best of my knowledge.

My advice is to get whatever chief pilot you spoke to to give you a direct contact to someone high up in pilot recruiting that should know bc clearly the person you spoke to is giving conflicting information. Don’t take our word for it.

Any advice? Yes this is where I hammer the ball back in your court and ask did you learn anything? The fact that you can get all the way to an in person interview without having the ability to be offered the job is beyond unprofessional it’s HR malpractice. Spirit may not be only Airline where this could happen but it clearly wouldn’t happen at most places. In Short, if they treat you like this as a prospectus (when you could be looking at other employers), imagine what it’ll be like working there. Is this a job you would really want?

Another carrier recently hired a man convicted of felony who made it past basic indoc ………just think of what else these companies aren’t checking? Is that really a place where you want to work?

I admire your decision to go to the interview, it’ll be good practice for an interview for your intended destination. Suit, nerves, and how you interact with other interviewees is a big part of what HR uses to make their final judgment at the big 3. It does appear that in your case your outcome is fait accompli, so unfortunately there will be no way to know how well your practice run went. They may offer you some unusual conditional, which you could exercise in 2 years but honestly Spirit may not exist in 2 years and you may be a much more attractive candidate by then with better offers. Just my .05 🇮🇳 rupees.

I agree with this. Also, spirit interview wasn't as professional as I thought it would be. The HR and pilot did not seem at all interested in me, and I got bad looks once I mentioned some checkride fails. It wasn't the best experience at all and I am glad I am at another airline that actually seemed interested in me (United) . Why invite for an interview if you will just get dirty looks and a TBNT? Not cool.

This is hilarious on so many levels. Probably have to be over the age of 35 to see the humor in this post.

If you can get an interview with Spirit with what I assume is 135 jet time... You can get an interview at United. Come join us, it's more chill here and we are hiring like crazy. Especially spirit guys. Something like 50% of our class was ex-spirit

Definitely want that “chill”

Exactly right, sounds like he’ll go to the interview, be told good job with a pat on the back and to reapply/reinterview once eligible for a non-restricted ATP in 2 years. I haven’t seen anyone younger than 23 at Spirit. But who knows, maybe if you’re that good they’ll change it for you.

Do you have to be 23 with ATP to be a ground instructor? I’m wondering if that’s what will be offered at an interview.

What about you is particularly interesting?

From your post history it appears your most recent checkride failure was at a regional earlier this year, and the above post uses “fails” plural. In this hiring climate, that’s not the no-go it once was a few years go, but it still begs the question to any potential employer what the circumstances surrounding those failures were. I’ve done a fair number of interviews in my career and I’ve never had anyone be openly rude or dismissive, but I did do a lot of self reflection later on how I could have better answered certain questions.

I wonder if the “bad looks” were about your failures, or more about your response(s) to their questions about them…