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Do you get the feeling most guys you fly with are hoping to land at another carrier? United, Delta, etc?

No. Everyone I've flown with hasn't made any indications that they're leaving.

I can hold a line after 2 months but I'm bidding RSV come Sept. :) its pretty boring sitting around the house all day, but I get by :)

I love my job!!! I have a better life than my friends at DAL,AA and UCon. They are amazed by our contract

This...I was sharing a united Jumpseat with a 15yr FO, and we started talking about Spirit. He almost shat himself when I described the work rules. He at one point thought I was lying. I have been here 11 months. I have not ONCE had less than 15 days off, more 17 off than 16, and 18-19 on rsv. Yes I took a massive first year cut to come here (8yr xjt capt) but I'm within a few dollars of my last year next month and by year 3 if the growth continues, I will skyrocket past it, AND my friends at (insert legacy carrier). I have listened to jumps eaters, friends, colleagues ***** about work rules, contracts, old planes, bases, but quick to point out spirits "slightly" lower pay rates. Well, I have a KICK ASS life outside of my job, BECAUSE of.........my job. If guys and gals leave here to go to some "legacy" with hopes of greener pastures, good riddance. You know why "the grass is always greener on the other side"?? Because of all of the **** fertilizing it. Good luck to all that get the call. You will love it.

Spirit QOL?
 

You guys have me even more excited to start. Can't wait for class!!!

Wow! Sounds great!

Good to know....

Spirit QOL?
 

Hey current Spirit folks. In starting class soon and was wondering about the crowne plaza that we will be in for training. For planning purposes, do they have free breakfast? Also if I don't have a car there, are there any grocery stores nearby? Any info on my new home for the next 2 months would be appreciated.

Room is nice with a microwave and small fridge. There are some restaurants within walking distance. Small store in the hotel with typical stuff. No free breakfast but u get 25% off on all food. Publix is about 1.5 miles away but I'm sure there will be guys in ur class with a car. There will be plenty of Spirit people around willing to give u a ride if needed. Free wifi and nice pool

Are they not giving out rental cars in training any more? That made life really easy and enjoyable in MIA.

Hotel provides trans to training. It's total bs

There's a shuttle to the training center from the new-hire (and recurrent) hotel and the training center now has everything - including the simulators.

I undertand why Spirit did it - lowered expenses, but it has cut down on QOL in training. I wish we used the layover hotels for training. Better location, and free breakfast. We just have too many people to house them all in one spot; the downside of a growing airline. It also would have allowed the newhires to interact more with the line crews.

On the upside, I've heard that even though the hotel will tell you its pointless, you may actually get credit for all your stay if you sign up or put your hotel rewards card on the room. Automatic elite status - useful once you're on-line, since we do stay at a couple Crowne Plaza's (mostly Marriot, Hilton, and Hyatt though). The hotel also houses FA new-hire training for Silverwings. If you're single (or want to be), that might be a plus.

The Crown Plaza is the worst of the three options for new-hire training. No car unless you're scheduled for a MIA sim.

Spirit QOL?
 

Hotel types for overnight was going to be my next question. I was spoiled by the corporate world of choosing out own hotels but Marriott Hilton and Hyatt sounds great.

Sometimes its the lower level product: 'DoubleTree', 'Courtyard', 'Hyatt Place', Hyatt House' or 'Garden Inn', but I'd say about 60% are the flagship product of one of those 3.

Very rarely do you accumulate points toward status, though.

Spirit QOL?
 

Great, thanks. Yeah I wish we could get points. We would all be wealthy indeed with a few million points at each hotel system. Marriott points have served me well throughout the years.

Can someone please post the current payrates? I've been told what's on airlinepilotpay.com isn't accurate and up-to-date. Thanks.

Here you go, this is current. Years 1-15 CA and 1-10 FO.

Captain Pay Rates
Aug'13 Aug'14
99.62 101.62
119.49 121.88
124.04 126.52
128.78 131.35
133.68 136.35
138.78 141.56
143.73 146.60
147.73 150.68
152.15 155.20
156.72 159.86
161.43 164.65
166.27 169.60
171.25 174.67
176.40 179.93
181.68 185.32

First Officer Pay Rates
Aug'13 Aug'14
38.50 38.50
70.63 72.05
76.21 77.73
82.22 83.86
88.19 89.96
93.57 95.44
97.97 99.93
101.16 103.19
104.13 106.21
107.13 109.27

cool. Thanks!

Hope this isn't a dumb question, but is there a way to update my app? I have already applied but would like to upload a new resume.

unless they have changed something in the last few months no there is not a way to update it. I was told they were trying to change it.

If you are within a day or two's drive it would be well worth it to have a car. The restaurant options near the Crowne are very limited, although the pizza place around the corner is excellent. Also, the shuttle was very unreliable for my class - 30 min to 1 hour wait for a pick-up was normal.

Lets get this thread going again. Is QOL still good at Spirit?

yes...filler filler filler

Define QOL and we'll try to answer your questions.

The job is great, new Airbus airplanes, crews are fantastic, I've yet to fly with anyone I didn't really like or get along with, schedules are varied, hotels are nice. We have growing pains.

Work rules are great, 4 days off minimum between pairings, transition and holiday conflicts are real nice. I live in base, things are much, much better when you don't have to commute. Pay could be higher and I'd expect it to get better with the new contract. This place is growing so fast, every base is attainable quite quickly, getting a line takes a couple of months at most.

The one thing we don't have is a cool name on the side of our plane and nice swag. If you can get over not getting embroidered luggage or umbrellas with the name of a legacy printed on them, Spirit is a great place to be.

That defines QOL to me. I don't need the nice uniforms to be happy. Thanks for the update.
I'm looking for a professional flight deck and enough time to be with the fam. But not too much time ;).
Anyone getting hired with no 121 time ? I've got gobs of 135 jet/ turbine PIC, but no 121.
Thanks again for your time.

Yes, we're still hiring folks with no 121. The biggest killer is having skeletons in your past, and/or recent or multiple type/pc training kind of failures. If you're clean in those areas, start hitting the job fairs or have your internal recs start making some noise.

Good luck.

That depends on your definition of QOL.

Industry leading scheduling flexibility: Check
Industry worst Airbus pay: Check

Yep. Pay is low for now but I've never had this much time off. I get the sense of having complete control of my schedule and I have the ability to stack more flying on to my schedule if desired.

The good:

4 days off between pairings, except during transition
Transition conflict language
Line bidding with (usually) good schedule flexibility
Good commuter clause
Decent 401(k) match, though no company DC.

Meh (aside from the pay issues mentioned above already):

Soft time has been quite a bit tougher to come by lately as a commuter. I average about 80 credit hours per month.
Training scheduling can be challenging, no system to bid for it during your base month.
No AQP for training.
Low sick time accrual with a low cap on the time you can have in your bank.

Overall, there is decent QOL to be found here, with a few improvements we hope to make in our next contract. Good luck.

I would argue with your assertion of Industry Worst Airbus pay. Allegiant and Virgin (it's only a very recent change that Virgin have increased their pay) have both been paid less, remember hourly pay rate is not the whole story. Our pay needs to come up, and I'm sure it will with our next contract.

Good points all. Indeed, pay isn't Allegiant-bad, just 34% below industry average bad. In fact, it should be mentioned that Frontier has slightly lower rates as well. I advocate that we take a pay cut in order to better align ourselves for the coming merger. ;)

Maybe pay will improve. Maybe the Flight Attendants will finally get a contract. Maybe they'll stop terminating and outsourcing loyal in-house CSA and ramp employees. But until then, a prospective candidate needs to appreciate the undeniable realities of the now.

All you have to do is email planning. I've always gotten what I've asked for.

The open time is feast or famine right now. Lots of open trips, but all worth less than my current schedule. But if you need a day off, you can pretty much trade to get it, you just take a hit in pay.

Yeah, I forgot to mention Frontier.

The schedule aspect is very true, plenty of open time, but some trips aren't as good as what I've got now. That being said, if I need a particular day off it's extremely easy now to be able to drop and replace it with something else. Is it perfect? No, I might have to take a cut in my minimum for it, but that's the breaks.

On what basis are you making this statement? I assume you are adding your conflict/transition pay? Even then it's not exactly a clear cut comparison.

Not a ****ing contest Shy, but just a quick cursory glance says minimum at Virgin is 70 hours, minimum at Spirit is 72. Deadhead pay is paid at 50% at Virgin and there is the transition conflict.

These are pulled off of APC, not actual contracts so it could be different. There's pluses and minuses to both places, I'm not debating that. I'm debating the fact that we are the lowest paid Airbus pilots.

And i would counter with we are the lowest paid, at least when you look at our labor cost. This is for 2014, but of the top ten airlines are labor cost is the lowest by far. No matter what managment says theres a lot of room to increase pay and still make huge profits.

I do that, and haven't been so lucky. I know this is the exception and not the rule. It would be a nice change to see a simple software update in FLiCA to allow a bidding system for training, versus sending off an email and hoping it works.