The thing is that only the management knows if there will be a strike because they have all the infomation. Managment knows what the union is currently asking for, they know what other airlines pay, and they know what their bottom line is. They know that the union isn't going to settle for nothing and that it will cost them money to sign a deal.
The bottom line is that if Spirit (or AirTran, Allegiant, Virgin, etc.) has to pay everybody 30% less than most other carriers that operate the same equipment on comparable routes then they don't have a viable business and probably never will have. If this is the case the airline will end up out of business at some point anyway with or without a new pilot contract. When did airlines decide that they were entitled to cut-rate labor?
I say to the Spirit pilots; hang in there, don't give into the threats and you will get a decent deal with real and valuable improvements. If in the end the company takes a strike and shuts down then that was probably going to happen anyway, they just saw an opportunity to do it and put the blame on something other than a bad business plan, i.e. ALPA. I think there will be a lot of huffing and puffing from management in an effort to try to drive down expectations but when they see it's not working they will sign a deal and that will be that.
Kudos to the Spirit pilots for hanging tough and not giving in, that will help us all. Let's stop subsidizing ridiculously low ticket prices for the public with our paychecks. It cost money to operate airplanes and pay skilled professionals to staff the operation, it's time to charge the flying public for the real costs of providing the service (including paying the employees fairly and treating them decently) plus a reasonable profit margin.
