Justabusdriver1

present but not as common. If it doesn’t happen at least once a trip it’s at least once every 2 weeks.

PossibleDeviation

Feel free to report back once the kool-aid has worn off at your new gig if you're leaving. Excited to hear about how smooth the operation is run!

Noisecanceller

There will always be churn as long as there is a legacy to go to. It’s spirits job to minimize that churn to the point where it’s enough to keep things cheap with “juniority” but not high enough that it affects the operation and you lose money.

From day one in class a new hire sees complete chaos from a scheduling standpoint and it doesn’t stop. After a mess of a schedule they finally make it to the line exhausted and stressed out. Then they get hung up by a wx event and see the CA can’t even get a hold of scheduling and ends up buying hotel rooms himself so they don’t sleep in the airport with the FAs. Gee I wonder why there is excessive churn at the bottom.

This is all controllable but they cannot recruit the support staff to make it all happen bc they don’t want to pay more than the competitors. They are used to being cheap bc that’s the model. So to save money on salaries they lose millions bc of turnover and underutilization of the fleet.

And last I checked most of the other airlines are making money so let’s not say this stuff happens as often elsewhere as it does here

CincoDeMayo

You’re drunk on that legacy Kool Aid.

CincoDeMayo

It’s worse at other places.

At NK they usually notice last minute and it’s a “do you want to extend” or “we just timed out”

Ask AA and SWA how often they are getting rescheduled throughout a pairing, because some computer is making the calls. It’s never ending.

93Sierra

that’s what I fear with H.A.L. 2.0 coming online whenever they implement the AI tool

RemoveB4flght

Had this exact scenario recently with a new hire, who by the way was anything but exhausted and stressed. We did first two legs, plane swap but no plane. I bought us dinner in the airport while we waited on hold and joked about the hold music. Said if they don’t answer by the time we finish eating, it’s hotel time. Check came, I sent an email, called a chief, booked two rooms on my app and ordered an Uber black. I wasn’t bothered and he wasn’t bothered, so maybe tone down the hyperbole.

It’s unfortunate we have these scenarios, but it’s all really very simple: you have xx:xx hours to be on duty and then you’re not for at least 10. Does it suck when that duty goes longer than originally planned? Yes, but that’s the job sometimes. In a perfect world should all arrangements be taken care of, probably so. However I’m a well paid adult with a high limit credit card and the innate ability to problem solve, as are most pilots here. It’s strange to me that these scenarios would be so wrought with chaos and stress that it would compel a new hire to leave.

sioux8ships

Boom, mic drop! Spot on! Reimbursement usually happens within a few days too.

JulesWinfield

The issue is that there wasn't much turnover pre-covid, when all of the airplanes were ordered. They got rid of paid off 319s to lease brand new airplanes, which they can't utilize because of the churn. They were late to address attrition, and now, it is too late. They'll have a net of 22 more airplanes by the end of this year, with hefty lease payments.

Spirit has a lot of weak captains that won't follow the contract, because they don't want to be bothered to upload a receipt to concur. If it takes more than 30 minutes for transportation, get a cab. If you can't get a hold of scheduling during a meltdown, buy the crew's rooms and sort it out later. There's no reason to hang out all day at the airport because you can't be an adult.

Yes, this stuff does happen other places. Like you said, they can't fix the attrition problem, no matter how much they spend on infrastructure. Because of this, they can't fix the utilization problem, which means they can't make money.

Right out their quarterly report:

"For the second quarter 2023, we estimate our operating margin will range between 4.5 to 6.5 percent. In this demand environment, and with a declining fuel price in the second quarter of this year, the business at full utilization should be producing double digit operating margins. However, we continue to be hampered by NEO engine availability and pilot attrition issues that are preventing us from ramping up aircraft utilization. The NEO engine issues should improve as the year progresses but will likely remain a drag on utilization for the rest of the year. Also, pilot attrition levels have improved slightly from last year, but they are still volatile and they have not yet improved to the levels that we had hoped. Given these continued constraints, and our concerns about Air Traffic Control staffing, our capacity is heading towards to the lower end of our previous full year 2023 guide of 18 to 20 percent," said Scott Haralson, Spirit's Chief Financial Officer. "We expect to be profitable for the remainder of the year with margins improving each quarter. We also expect our full year CASM ex-fuel to be around 7.0 cents. CASM ex-fuel should decline throughout the year as we improve efficiency with CASM ex-fuel in the fourth quarter 2023 being in the high 6’s."

Stratoliner

People interviewed yesterday (May 9) being offered June 19