Life at Spirit
#671
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2016
Position: 320 Captain
Posts: 172
Hey guys, any input is greatly appreciated. I’m Florida based so Frontier and Spirit are my top choices. Tampa would be great cause of family but I don't mind Orlando either. Everywhere I look, Spirit pilots just love their lives which is why I am here. The schedule flexibility is huge for me and so is turns/being home most nights.
1. How has your QOL been at spirit, do you enjoy working there?
2. Do you have any insight on the pros/cons of working for spirit over frontier?
3. How do you believe the merger will impact you?
4. If given the option now which ULCC would you choose?
5. Is Spirit a place you would feel comfortable retiring at or legacy is still the way to go?
6. I’m aiming for MCO, is that something I could get out of training?
7. Starting at a regional here soon. How many hours is competitive these days for spirit? I did the traditional 1500 CFI gig so have 0 turbine time atm. I plan on attending as many MTC events as possible after my checkride.
8. And what’s the % of day trips atm? That’s big for me as far as QOL goes.
9. Is frontier better for day trips out of TPA or spirit out of MCO?
1. How has your QOL been at spirit, do you enjoy working there?
2. Do you have any insight on the pros/cons of working for spirit over frontier?
3. How do you believe the merger will impact you?
4. If given the option now which ULCC would you choose?
5. Is Spirit a place you would feel comfortable retiring at or legacy is still the way to go?
6. I’m aiming for MCO, is that something I could get out of training?
7. Starting at a regional here soon. How many hours is competitive these days for spirit? I did the traditional 1500 CFI gig so have 0 turbine time atm. I plan on attending as many MTC events as possible after my checkride.
8. And what’s the % of day trips atm? That’s big for me as far as QOL goes.
9. Is frontier better for day trips out of TPA or spirit out of MCO?
1. QOL was great. It's absolutely atrocious now. Company has gone to 1, 2 and 3 day trips. So many turns. Even if you live in base, as I do, it's an absolute grind. Employee bus takes 30 min each way, driving in traffic, and if you end up being a commuter, especially to reserve, expect it to really suck. Reserve rules are pretty horrible to. As with any airline, your seniority helps you get a better QOL, but I'm seeing that take a very, very long time now with all these turns.
2. Lets put it this way. I put out applications to the legacy airlines when Frontier was taking over. Got offered 2 out of 3 for an interview. I'm not leaving now. Frontier has the worst management you can imagine. They are built to make money for themselves. They charge you half price for food. They section 19 you for not playing by their rules and their CEO is saying there is a "surplus of pilots." No thank you.
3. Merger I think will be better for most of us. JB seems to be aggressively trying to grow and they are just a nicer product. JB also is more traditional in terms of what an airline looks like or operates so I expect our large city hubs to grwo again instead of this over-emphasis of flying everyone to Disney World or to a cruise in south Florida.
4. Spirit
5. If you are youngish, Spirit or Frontier should only be another stepping stone for you to a legacy. Period.
6. ???? Dont know.
7. The market will dictate that. If we get a pay raise, they might be able to demand higher time, better qualified pilots. Right now I think they are desperate since we are bleeding folks to the legacies. In fact, rumor has it that the legacies are about to increase hiring quite a bit more. United has some really incredible plans for growing their fleet. Lets see.
8. An FO here can expect a pretty good bit of flying. They are very short. So day trips, two day trips, 200% X list trips. Pick of the litter.
9. I think Frontier has a Tampa base.
#673
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2022
Posts: 182
Answers! (From my perspective, so calm down yall)
1. QOL was great. It's absolutely atrocious now. Company has gone to 1, 2 and 3 day trips. So many turns. Even if you live in base, as I do, it's an absolute grind. Employee bus takes 30 min each way, driving in traffic, and if you end up being a commuter, especially to reserve, expect it to really suck. Reserve rules are pretty horrible to. As with any airline, your seniority helps you get a better QOL, but I'm seeing that take a very, very long time now with all these turns.
2. Lets put it this way. I put out applications to the legacy airlines when Frontier was taking over. Got offered 2 out of 3 for an interview. I'm not leaving now. Frontier has the worst management you can imagine. They are built to make money for themselves. They charge you half price for food. They section 19 you for not playing by their rules and their CEO is saying there is a "surplus of pilots." No thank you.
3. Merger I think will be better for most of us. JB seems to be aggressively trying to grow and they are just a nicer product. JB also is more traditional in terms of what an airline looks like or operates so I expect our large city hubs to grwo again instead of this over-emphasis of flying everyone to Disney World or to a cruise in south Florida.
4. Spirit
5. If you are youngish, Spirit or Frontier should only be another stepping stone for you to a legacy. Period.
6. ???? Dont know.
7. The market will dictate that. If we get a pay raise, they might be able to demand higher time, better qualified pilots. Right now I think they are desperate since we are bleeding folks to the legacies. In fact, rumor has it that the legacies are about to increase hiring quite a bit more. United has some really incredible plans for growing their fleet. Lets see.
8. An FO here can expect a pretty good bit of flying. They are very short. So day trips, two day trips, 200% X list trips. Pick of the litter.
9. I think Frontier has a Tampa base.
1. QOL was great. It's absolutely atrocious now. Company has gone to 1, 2 and 3 day trips. So many turns. Even if you live in base, as I do, it's an absolute grind. Employee bus takes 30 min each way, driving in traffic, and if you end up being a commuter, especially to reserve, expect it to really suck. Reserve rules are pretty horrible to. As with any airline, your seniority helps you get a better QOL, but I'm seeing that take a very, very long time now with all these turns.
2. Lets put it this way. I put out applications to the legacy airlines when Frontier was taking over. Got offered 2 out of 3 for an interview. I'm not leaving now. Frontier has the worst management you can imagine. They are built to make money for themselves. They charge you half price for food. They section 19 you for not playing by their rules and their CEO is saying there is a "surplus of pilots." No thank you.
3. Merger I think will be better for most of us. JB seems to be aggressively trying to grow and they are just a nicer product. JB also is more traditional in terms of what an airline looks like or operates so I expect our large city hubs to grwo again instead of this over-emphasis of flying everyone to Disney World or to a cruise in south Florida.
4. Spirit
5. If you are youngish, Spirit or Frontier should only be another stepping stone for you to a legacy. Period.
6. ???? Dont know.
7. The market will dictate that. If we get a pay raise, they might be able to demand higher time, better qualified pilots. Right now I think they are desperate since we are bleeding folks to the legacies. In fact, rumor has it that the legacies are about to increase hiring quite a bit more. United has some really incredible plans for growing their fleet. Lets see.
8. An FO here can expect a pretty good bit of flying. They are very short. So day trips, two day trips, 200% X list trips. Pick of the litter.
9. I think Frontier has a Tampa base.
#674
Line Holder
Joined APC: May 2022
Posts: 41
Answers! (From my perspective, so calm down yall)
1. QOL was great. It's absolutely atrocious now. Company has gone to 1, 2 and 3 day trips. So many turns. Even if you live in base, as I do, it's an absolute grind. Employee bus takes 30 min each way, driving in traffic, and if you end up being a commuter, especially to reserve, expect it to really suck. Reserve rules are pretty horrible to. As with any airline, your seniority helps you get a better QOL, but I'm seeing that take a very, very long time now with all these turns.
2. Lets put it this way. I put out applications to the legacy airlines when Frontier was taking over. Got offered 2 out of 3 for an interview. I'm not leaving now. Frontier has the worst management you can imagine. They are built to make money for themselves. They charge you half price for food. They section 19 you for not playing by their rules and their CEO is saying there is a "surplus of pilots." No thank you.
3. Merger I think will be better for most of us. JB seems to be aggressively trying to grow and they are just a nicer product. JB also is more traditional in terms of what an airline looks like or operates so I expect our large city hubs to grwo again instead of this over-emphasis of flying everyone to Disney World or to a cruise in south Florida.
4. Spirit
5. If you are youngish, Spirit or Frontier should only be another stepping stone for you to a legacy. Period.
6. ???? Dont know.
7. The market will dictate that. If we get a pay raise, they might be able to demand higher time, better qualified pilots. Right now I think they are desperate since we are bleeding folks to the legacies. In fact, rumor has it that the legacies are about to increase hiring quite a bit more. United has some really incredible plans for growing their fleet. Lets see.
8. An FO here can expect a pretty good bit of flying. They are very short. So day trips, two day trips, 200% X list trips. Pick of the litter.
9. I think Frontier has a Tampa base.
1. QOL was great. It's absolutely atrocious now. Company has gone to 1, 2 and 3 day trips. So many turns. Even if you live in base, as I do, it's an absolute grind. Employee bus takes 30 min each way, driving in traffic, and if you end up being a commuter, especially to reserve, expect it to really suck. Reserve rules are pretty horrible to. As with any airline, your seniority helps you get a better QOL, but I'm seeing that take a very, very long time now with all these turns.
2. Lets put it this way. I put out applications to the legacy airlines when Frontier was taking over. Got offered 2 out of 3 for an interview. I'm not leaving now. Frontier has the worst management you can imagine. They are built to make money for themselves. They charge you half price for food. They section 19 you for not playing by their rules and their CEO is saying there is a "surplus of pilots." No thank you.
3. Merger I think will be better for most of us. JB seems to be aggressively trying to grow and they are just a nicer product. JB also is more traditional in terms of what an airline looks like or operates so I expect our large city hubs to grwo again instead of this over-emphasis of flying everyone to Disney World or to a cruise in south Florida.
4. Spirit
5. If you are youngish, Spirit or Frontier should only be another stepping stone for you to a legacy. Period.
6. ???? Dont know.
7. The market will dictate that. If we get a pay raise, they might be able to demand higher time, better qualified pilots. Right now I think they are desperate since we are bleeding folks to the legacies. In fact, rumor has it that the legacies are about to increase hiring quite a bit more. United has some really incredible plans for growing their fleet. Lets see.
8. An FO here can expect a pretty good bit of flying. They are very short. So day trips, two day trips, 200% X list trips. Pick of the litter.
9. I think Frontier has a Tampa base.
appreciate the thorough responses from everyone, so the majority of trip lengths are 1, 2, and 3-day trips it seems? I'm trying to take it step by step, from what I have read, NK seems like a good place to end up if the music stops, plus really can't beat living in base. Looking forward to joining this pilot group.
#676
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2017
Position: Student of the game
Posts: 1,026
#677
Line Holder
Joined APC: Oct 2016
Posts: 63
Plenty is probably based on domicile. I’m in a Midwest base and it seems the majority of trips that are classified as 4-days are actually 3-days they end after midnight.
#678
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2022
Posts: 182
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