Is Spirit now a better job opportunity than JetBlue???

[Bavarian Chef]

Respectfully disagree. The Count is da' man.

I count slurping down the chocolate colored sludge at the bottom of my bowl as one of my fondest childhood memories.

Nu

Sorry, bubba, you shouldn't be slurping down anything the Count has to offer. That's just wrong. Guessing you like Fruity Pebbles too.

 

[Big Slick]

Everyone knows that there is Frankenberry, Boo-Berry and Count Chocula. Anyone besides me remember the werewolf cereal that tasted like fruity pebbles? I can't remember the name of it. I think it only lasted about a year.

 

[enigma]

I do need to lighten up.

But, seriously, it will pay off handsomely if someone could figure out the best place to start year one right now.

And, yes, while I personally think SWA is the best of the bunch, that doesn't mean an argument can't be made for one of the less dominant or emerging players.

The only year one carrier going would appear to be Virgin America or maybe the one from Columbus that Ken Gile is working with. B6 has been around for at least five years, Spirit has been around 18 or so, etc. Spirit is the place to be for a betting man. The risk and reward are both high.

I'd personally choose SWA, but your people don't want me, so I'll do my best to ensure that NK survives and becomes a viable competitor.

If anyone cares, a Spirit pilot started airlinesforum.net and a lot of Spirit pilots, myself included, spend most of our time there.

enigma

 

[Sailpilot]

You rich bastards! Ya, keep talking about all your GREAT cereal! “This is better, no this is better” All your pretty color boxes! Little freakin prizes inside also I bet! Go ahead just keep sticken it to “us”!

“Us” being the poo white kids that had to eat… dare I say it? YES, we had to eat cereal from a bag! Nothing frankin or berry about it. It said “CEREAL”, white bag and light blue lettering. I got a prize inside once; I thought it was a “pet rock”. It turned out to just be that the bag had a hole and some of the cereal grew fungus on it.

You rich bastards, I bet I was the only one that had to wait till college to realize that beer came in other cans? Did you know that cans didn’t just come in white with light blue “BEER” written on the side?

 

[Bavarian Chef]

Talk about a thread hijack, Sailpilot. Man, you need to lay off the gin juice ... I don't think I will ever understand that post.

 

[Alcatraz]

Sammy Hagar or David Lee Roth?

DIAMOND DAVE!!!!!!

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

The only year one carrier going would appear to be Virgin America or maybe the one from Columbus that Ken Gile is working with. B6 has been around for at least five years, Spirit has been around 18 or so, etc. Spirit is the place to be for a betting man. The risk and reward are both high.

I'd personally choose SWA, but your people don't want me, so I'll do my best to ensure that NK survives and becomes a viable competitor.

If anyone cares, a Spirit pilot started airlinesforum.net and a lot of Spirit pilots, myself included, spend most of our time there.

enigma

Thanks for the input. While year one of a start up is definitely a chance at being at the top of the seniority list, I was thinking in terms of year one of someone's major airline career. Someone coming up from Corporate, regionals, or ex-mil. It was very aggressive to quit UAL for JetBlue when they had 5 airplanes, coming over when they had 30 and were still growing like gangbusters was, arguably, a very smooth move.

As for the all the cereal connoisseurs--Good luck in your career if that is the extent of your analysis of market conditions and trends. Will you be complaining in a couple of years about new airlines taking your jobs away?....Oh, wait, you won't know becuse you don't care.

I'll name you guys the Ostrich gang.

 

[enigma]

Thanks for the input. While year one of a start up is definitely a chance at being at the top of the seniority list, I was thinking in terms of year one of someone's major airline career. Someone coming up from Corporate, regionals, or ex-mil. It was very aggressive to quit UAL for JetBlue when they had 5 airplanes, coming over when they had 30 and were still growing like gangbusters was, arguably, a very smooth move.

Fly, sorry, I misunderstood.

I can't think of a better place to go for a year one passenger pilot than SWA. Especially in the terms you state. When you talk about a "career", you're looking for long term employment, and no other carrier today offers a managment team that has a history of long term success. SWA wins this one hands down. Continental would come in a distant second.

For those who don't win the SWA lotto, every carrier currently hiring has a potential downside in their future. Spirit WILL evolve through another set of investors and eventually do an IPO, or a merger. Spirit offers a good chance to get into a carrier that has no place to go but up,....... or out. JetBlue would appear to be at the end of their initial growth spurt and is heavily in debt. Frontier looks decent, but they've got two heavy hitting competitors in their home hub. My number two pick, Continental has debt, but they've got decent managment and a potentially profitable route structure. Where else can one go and be in the right seat of an international heavy in less than two years?

All of which don't matter if you're looking for the overall best place. FedEx.

At FedEx, one can go around the world in a MD11. Eastbound or Westbound. Day or night. One can also fly domestic north, south, east or west; day or night. The money is incomparable. Best of all, there customers don't blink at paying for their product. Now, if I only knew someone at FedEx:crying:

enigma

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

I've got this alternate point of view that I also think contributes to the question, "Which airline should I go with now?"

Which airline would you rather be at if you think furloughes are a possibility in your career?

After 9/11 I saw different responses by the majors. I think Continental furloughed right away. Delta seems to have treated their furloughes the best and has been relatively compassionate. Perhaps not up to Delta standards of old, but better than other airlines. Delta guys please chime in. SWA increased their reserves from 10% of lines to 15% and decreased line pay and open time to avoid furloughes.

Worst case I know about---AA threw guys in training out onto the street. The company did not want to give them line numbers, per the contract. (APA fought that and got them line numbers). I know at least one AA pilot who, after 2 years of military leave, asked for a personal leave of absence (not furloughed) and was denied. A great chance to open up a position for a furloughed pilot wasted.

My opinion--I'd rather be starting at SWA now facing quarter losses, a cut to pilot pay with furlough a real possibility in a couple of years (Hypothetical!)than be at AA right now in the bottom 1/4 of the FO's currently flying. When you are at the mercy of union politics and management, which union/management would you like to be under?