Believe me, the pilots at Spirit who are 'too comfortable' are a small minority. Most of us are acutely aware of where our contract stands in relation to our peers. Our pay rates, now near the bottom of A320 operators in the US, are the most visible deficiency in our contract. Our turn at bat is coming very soon and I'm optimistic that we as a pilot group will hit at least a triple. Things change fast in this industry. It was barely 18 months ago that US Airways A330 captains were making less per hour than our A320 captains at comparable longevity step. I'm glad the disaster that was LOA93 is history and we at Spirit can bargain off the new benchmark the APA has established (at least for pay rates).

 

Deadstick....where did you get those payrates for American, Virgin, and Jetblue? Are any of those pilot groups actually making those rates currently? When are those rates effective for each airline?

 

"Working" the rules costs you a lot of QOL as a commuter. I bet more than half of the group are commuters.

With just flying my line my effective rate isn't higher as a ratio to hours flown than most of my friends at other airlines or at my last shtbag regional

 

I stated that those are effective Jan 1, 2016.

Source:
AA: Ratified JCBA Group II effective Jan 1, 2016.
VA: New rates effective April 1, 2015. (MGMT's attempt to stifle the union drive?)
JB: Current APC rates which are old, compounded with a 3.5% increase as of Jan 1, 2015, and another 3.5% on Jan 1, 2016.

We all need to be looking forward.

 

Excellent point. As a commuter, I think I've only credited over 100 hours once in 18 months.

 

Great post

 

I'm not sure why people thing our work rules are so amazing. Maybe compared to AA (I can't verify that) but against UAL, DAL, jetblue, and southwest it's nothing to call home about. We beat out only Virgin and Allegiant. 4 days off yes is tops but really what else? Transition? That's like a guy in a trailer thinking he's going to be a part or the 1%. It's a ****ing unicorn. I actually get it most months at my seniority but most don't and I screw my whole life schedule up because I can't plan **** the first or last week of the month because that's how I make money. It's a joke. So someone please tell me about these amazing work rules we have.

 

So delta should take paycuts because they are the top of the industry just as long as they stay on top? That's what your saying.

This LOA is a staffing reduction in perpetuity. It's not just a concession one time. It's the concession that keeps on giving while we grow. How this is not understood by the entire MEC and negotiating committee blows my mind. Let the company do whatever the want within the constraints of out current contract if we vote it down. I'm not voluntarily going to hand over a concession. Never! Ever! If they want it they are going to have to take it.

The last pilot group I was in gave. Guess what we got for it? Nothing. They came back for more down the road. You feed a wild animal and they forget how to feed themselves and they come back for more. The panhandler in the median doesn't take your gift and put it towards a new pair of clothes and a shave so he can get a job, he stands out there and waits for more.

I'll tell you what, if they want industry standard recurrent training I want to LOA an industry standard contract now and we can negotiate from there for our new contract in August.

 

My NO vote was sent in today. I saved a photo of the no transmission, so when it passes, at least I can say it wasn't my doing.

 

Exactly.. I can't figure out which work rules everybody is talking about. Transition benefits about 5% of the pilot group, our trip/duty rigs are weak, and trip averaging essentially guarantees that we never get paid for anything over block. For those who do benefit from the transition, they have to organize their entire life around the beginning and end of each month. Based on what I've been reading on the AA threads our work rules are potentially better but like Qotsaautopilot said, DAL, UAL, and most others besides Virgin and Allegiant have us beat. The only two things worth bragging about here are our red/green language and 4 days off (which is a double edged sword but that's another issue). JRM's and making deals with crew scheduling aren't work rules. All of that crap will come to an end at some point.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy working here and would like to make it a career. I just hope we stop convincing ourselves that we have the best work rules in the industry and realize that we have a lot of work to do on this next contract. Pay rates, retirement, LTD (seriously, ours is hands down one of the worst in the industry), and higher daily min credit to name a few areas in which we lag dramatically behind our peers.