captscott26

credit for trip= # of duty periods x 4.5 + # of sched overnights over 22 hrs x 4.5 or total scheduled/actual block for trip, whichever is greater.

So, a 4 day trip with one overnight over 22 hours pays 4x4.5=18 + 1 22hr overnight x 4.5 = 18+4.5= 22.5 minimum credit for trip.

Clear as mud ehh.

390SetBlue

Thanks for the explanation Left and Cappy. After looking more closely at some of the affected pairings it seems that we get screwed more often than not. I can't find anything about trip averaging in the contract. Is there an LOA for it?

TTOCSMCC

Check out pairing F4189 for a study in credit vs block.

Plane Ramrod

Section 4D. It hasn't changed (except 4.5 hr/ duty period, but only for multi-period trips spanning a full moon -to the greatest extent possible) since 2003.

willflyforcash

I know 3 new hires went thru in june, any word on the july class? Last i heard there was supposed to be a class of 4 for july.

4castclr

I'm curious about Spirit, for anyone who works there, how do you like it? Schedule, trips, pay, benefits, pilot-management relationship, upgrade (once all the airlines start to hire will there be a lot of movement) . Is it a place people are looking to stay or just a stepping stone towards where they will "hang up there hat". How long would it be to start making around 70ish a year? can you work the schedule? are there a lot of overnights or day trips.Thanks for any input any one has

Normann

Let me try this.

- Good potential for a reasonably fast upgrade. I would guess 3-5y for new hires. Subject to change LOL if you know what I mean.
- You can make 70k on your 2nd year with some OT. My rate is only 71 and I have made 48k gross first half of the year. That is close to maxed out, most months 95h+ block, living in base. So 70k with 2nd year becoming $66 soon is reasonable in my opinion with OT. Still pay is behind industry average and it will be even more behind in 5 years after most majors will get their long overdue raise.
- Right now there are more trips than turns but as we will be opening bases this may change.
- Trips are a mixed bag from 2-5 days. Typically you will not fly more than 2-3 legs per day. Average credit is usually around 5ish or less for trips. Kind of low. Lot of hotel time. Decent hotels and layover cities btw with internet and crew discounts.
- Relation to management has recently improved but this is a company with a long history of management abuse. Also one of the key players just left and the replacement is a known pilot hater so things will probably change for the worse again.
- This is definitely not a stepping stone place anymore. At least the folks I know don't think of it like that. Next to no attrition but of course nobody is hiring right now so this may change. Especially when Delta starts up I can see some DTW guys jumping ship. Definitely nobody leaves on the CA side.

The two biggest problems is uncertainty and the negative perception of the company.

Uncertainty is due to our size. We can be bought up tomorrow or just go belly up. But this is the trade off you have to pay for the potential. You can go be #7000 at a proven company and upgrade in 10-15 years or try your luck and be #500 here.

The bad perception is due to our business model which is here to stay. You will not be proud of working here anymore than working for McDonald's. That could be a big deal and it is effecting my work morale on a daily basis. So do not underestimate this aspect. Many guys are walking around with the badge facing inward.

Good luck!

Sniper

You'll break $70K as a 4 year FO for sure ($76.21/hr, the 4th year rate in 2015).

There are 258 pages of Spirit info just in this thread, '4castclr'. Please consider reading the thread, or use the search function (blue bar, upper right of the page) and search just this thread.

4castclr

Thanks Normann! Its great there people like you who take the time from there busy day to help others. I like to hear from people who work there instead of all the gossip from people who don't.

Normann

Yeah man it is not exactly a busy day to be honest. 5 day 4 leg trip. Just got back from the hotel pool

One thing I forgot to add is that lately it is harder to avoid red eye flying. Due to our high utilization planes are flying during the night as well. Thus most lines have some red eye legs. (There are some pure red eye lines as well but you can avoid those easily.) Since it is rare to have a reduced rest layover here, it is actually not that bad still get ready to fly those.

If Spirit will stick, it will be an ever changing place for the next ten years. I expect to see bases come and go, routes changing, and the flying changing. Once we will serve more destinations I am sure we will connect more. So legs per day will increase. We are trying to copy Ryan. Take a good look at them, because if we succeed we will look like them.