What does the average line look like at Spirit, particularly in the DFW base? Are they real heavy on 4-day trips or are there a lot of day trips and 2-days available as well? Are the junior lineholders averaging 15+ days off too or does it take a lot more seniority for that?

Also, for someone potentially being hired at Spirit right now, is 5-6 years a fairly safe guess at the earliest possible upgrade time?

Thanks!

 

DFW lines have been going downhill lately. Almost all are 14-16 days off with 2 leg redeyes in the middle and 1-2 weekends off. Turn lines have virtually been eliminated (only 2 for September) and are very senior. The guy that builds the schedules bids #1 so there is always one line in DFW that is the best in the system with conflicts on both sides and high days off.
Spirit has not been growing DFW for quite some time so it is becoming very senior on the FO side and frankly with Southwest doing their thing at LUV it doesnt look like it will grow much anytime soon. As far as upgrade time goes I would plan around 2021 or beyond. Anyone hired today is looking at senior FO or bottom CA as a career expectation. Of course that could change with another airplane order but I wouldnt plan my career based on an imaginary order that is at least 6+ years away. We have a ton of young Captains so assuming we get a decent contract relatively quickly most movement will come from people coming in behind you with negligable upward movement.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Spot on.


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Thank you for the replies. Is this a fairly new development and is it company-wide? Spirit has always appealed to me in part because of the perceived QOL advantages over the legacies. This sounds a bit different from what I've heard in the past. Either way it's good to know.

Have any DFW routes been cut since Southwest expanded DAL? Or are they holding steady so far despite the thinner margins?

 

I'm Dfw based, one year in, and for sept I was able to trade trips to get every weekend off. All my trips are 4 day trips during the week. Only two of them have red eyes but the first red eye all the other trip days are late shows anyways, and the other red eye has me off for 45 hours before I fly a morning flt. I could have increased my hours by 6 or more if I was willing to fly over the weekends as those 4 days available for swapping in Flica have higher credit. There is a price to pay for wanting weekends off. I think the biggest effect or change I've seen over the past year is res pilots get called out / used a lot more than when I first got hired here and second, the seniority list at Dfw has stagnated as of late so I still have the same number of people below me as I have had since June. Where as my classmates in other bases keep moving up their base seniority list at a steady pace.

 

The qol isn't perceived, it's actual. There is not another contract out there with a GDO of 4 days.

Guys living in base will always have a better qol and make more than those outside of it. The money will be better, the question is how long and at what level.

SWA had a huge capacity dump in DAL, but now are maxed out. It will take time to be absorbed. Still plenty of growth at Spirit, DFW has obviously slowed/stopped. Will it pick up? Unknown.

Never join a company because of bases or orders, as they can always change. The model is solid, makes money, but patience is required here. It's not your typical airline.

Good luck...

Cheers

 

I wouldn't expect DFW to "grow" much more than it is now. You'll have turnover as guys upgrade and leave, but I wouldn't expect a huge boom there. I think we're on the edge of opening another base. The bigwigs haven't said anything, but even the most dense guy can see where we're adding flights at. That being said I don think Spirit and BB give a rat's a$$ what Southwest is doing. As much as a cattle car operation SWA is, I just don't think they care. We've got a core group of people who fly on Spirit, they are the Dollar General shoppers, Southwest is great for the People of WalMart. Too bad we cant accept food stamps for payment, we'd increase and diversify our passenger dynamic. Oh, the qol conditions in our contract are real. You can't put a price on four days off and our commuter clause. I think the only way that aspect of our contract could be better is if we were all home based, purchased tickets to wherever our flights were starting and a guaranteed FIVE days off between pairings. As a commuter, I don't know if it gets any better than Spirit.

 

Most airlines have a two flight commuter clause. It's pretty standard. Hell even Xjt has a one flight commuter clause. 4 days is damn good though. Although if you ask a southwest guy that has min days off at 16 id bet he probably has at least 4 days off between work blocks too.

 

A Spirit executive attempts to catch the last banana to Ft. Lauderdale, after attending Friday's MEC meeting in Chicago.