Lol if it’s an “educated guess” it’s probably a long ways off since I think it’s pretty obvious neither of us are in the know. All those things you just mentioned are a result of loosing paid transition drops, NOT PBS. So if you were to say that loosing transition reduced staffing levels then yes you would be right. Is it 100 pilots? 200 Pilots? No one knows. But it’s done now, move on. Us continuing to cry about it 5 months later does nothing.

Transition language change and rsv drop certainly changed the staffing formula on day one.

It is without question that PBS is a staffing reducer. It’s not just a bidding system. Airline managements don’t give two flying ducks how any pilot group bids. The just want to employ the fewest possible pilots they can. That is the only reason.

literally every airline slows down in summer. all of them.

How does pbs reduce staffing levels then? I only ask because I have no clue.

I'll corroborate. Classes go back up in August. We're playing catchup on OE during the slowdown. We won't see a lot of instructors back in the sims in August since those classes won't hit Sims until almost September.

Really? You guys know we're taking about Spirit? The guys running the place are there by default. They have no clue what staffing levels are today or will be in 6 months. I'm sure they've screwed the pooch and have no clue what's going on. Have you guys spent anytime at the "Spirit Airlines strip mall", I mean office complex. It's a clown show. Some of you guys give them way to much credit. Our business model is cheap seat and no staffing. Notice how no one answers a phone? No one cares!!!

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but reducing pilot staffing is so easy a caveman can do it. And the more money they save on staffing, the more they can stuff in their pockets with bonuses on their exit from this merry-go-round of upper level management.

The biggie of course is elimination of transition conflicts, which in turn reduces the need for the high number of reserves to cover all the dropped trips at the beginning and end of the month. Another would be trip touching on vacation weeks. You'll get your bid weeks off, but you'll block more now in those months to make up for it. Vacation will get bookended with trips, so the days of getting 2 weeks off using 18 hours of vacation are gone when PBS is implemented. Training drops? Probably won't happen. You'll just be taken down to min days off in training months and flying will be built around your sim or groundschool. In general, soft time will be greatly reduced, so you make more per hour, but you'll likely have more block hours on your schedule than under the old contract. Crew utilization goes up, required staffing goes down. I just hope it doesn't get to the point that it's tough to drop a 4-day here and there.

Sounds great! I can’t friggin wait. Lowest compensation in the industry and crappy work rules to boot. High five to the 70%.

Arnt all those things associated with transition drops which we lost anyway? Because now with transition drops the company can add another trip that works anyway for you. I do think the grid will stay way green however because no one will be able to drop reserve. I actually think it might start going even more senior.