Lobaeux

Not sure about the spouse/children travel benefits, maybe 90 days?

New hire training is done in Fort Lauderdale, at the airport. It's about six weeks to two months for ground and flight training.

The training program is a tough, fire-hose experience. Most of the systems training is done individually though a CBT, with application of the systems training done with an Instructor Pilot in a FAA Flight Training Device. Flight training is done in a combination of Flight Training Device and full-motion simulators.

The instructors, both ground and flight instructors really want to see you succeed. With discipline, concentration and a positive attitude you'll do well.

ManFlex

And I'll add that the training is very canned/scripted. There are next to no surprises or 'stump the dummy' type of scenarios in ground or sim training. Put in the time, learn the material, ask some questions and success is likely.

Lobaeux

Exactly! Everything is preprinted and the student has access to the entire syllabus, including flight setup.

Regardless of what you might read on here, all the instructors want you to do well. There is no "I have a secret", stump the dummy or power trips. The instructors have information they want to teach, via the syllabus and offer up personal techniques based on experience both in their aviation careers and in flying the airbus.

CFI2766

Great. Thanks guys!

Gypsy Pilot

IF there are "stump the dummy" type questions, they aren't presented as such. I had several questions that could have been interpreted that way in the oral, however the obvious goal of the examiner was to get me to think outside of the training box a little bit and it was a learning experience more than anything. At no point did I feel threatened by the questions. Any stress was self induced, the whole program is laid out before you. It's aggressive, but very doable.

As to family travel benefits, 90 days from DoH.

GP

Gypsy Pilot

IF there are "stump the dummy" type questions, they aren't presented as such. I had several questions that could have been interpreted that way in the oral, however the obvious goal of the examiner was to get me to think outside of the training box a little bit and it was a learning experience more than anything. At no point did I feel threatened by the questions. Any stress was self induced, the whole program is laid out before you. It's aggressive, but very doable.

As to family travel benefits, 90 days from DoH.

GP

RP4242

It is 90 days. But remember that you need 180 days DOH to be able to fly on almost every ZED (more important probably for your dependents and/or if you go international) with the exception of some such as UA.

CFI2766

Ok thats also what I was wondering about and I couldn't find it on the other thread. So after the wait period are the participating ZED agreements low or medium ZED fare and do they include Southwest, Delta, and jetBlue? Is the process electronic or is it still paper ZED that takes some planning in advance?

Thanks again.

RP4242

The industry standard is 180 days of seniority before you or anyone else on your benefits can ZED. There are however (few) select agreements which come online after 90 days.

You will find a combination of ZED (most) and fixed service charge (few) agreements at NK.

Remember that there are also sliding scales depending on who you are which ZED agreement you fall into. For example while you may be charged a ZED Low your parents could be charged a ZED High rate. It is all dependent on the agreement that was drafted between the 2 carriers so there is no set standards which ZED fare you are charged. Although, you'll rarely find that employees+spouses/DPs fly on anything higher than a ZM.

There do exist paper ZED agreements as well fixed fee ones but to be honest I haven't used any while here and I dont plan on it, especially problematic outside of the US as you will get a deer caught in the headlights look. Everything has pretty much moved to the electronic side. There has been a ramp up in agreements as of lately so on the US side there is a ZED or service charge agreement with pretty much everyone minus AA (sans US) and DL. On the Intl side you've got the likes of LH, SK, AY, IB, LO, FI, G3, VS etc.

In a nutshell if you decide you need to hop on JetBlue with your wife at the very last minute you can buy her a ZED and have her checked in on the standby list within a minute or two. Couldnt be easier really.

Froggy

Say you purchase an international for your lady friend, IAH-CUN for example. The flight is full. Can you as a Spirit pilot ride in the jumpseat ? I know technically this is allowed now days but very few if any airlines actually have made the effort to implement it.