Pilots Turn Down 30% Increase over Five Years And A $3,000 Signing Bonus Per Pilot At

[Dizel8]

If you trail inflation for years on end, then just making up for inflation isn't actually a payraise!

jetblue did the exact same thing, I now make, adjusted for inflation, what I did 5 or 6 years ago. In order for it to work, you have to end up ahead of inflation once in a blue moon or get a COLA raise every year that offsets inflation.

 

[B727FA]

I'm making $.67 more an hour in real pay now than I was making in '97. Sick...I know. Lead the way, Spirit pilots! Draw, and HOLD the Line! We're behind you!

(BTW--I've been other places and ridden the ride up and down and this is where the Industry has landed me. I'm not bitching, just saying what we were doing 10-15 years ago is exactly where we are again. It has to STOP! No more subsidizing low ticket costs (and MGT pockets!) with our pay!)

Proud UNION airline crew!

 

[Lear70]

I'm pretty sure if I get a 30% raise, from that point on, I am getting 30% more money, but maybe thats just me...

It's not a 30% raise up front.

It's a 30% raise spread out over 5 years. That's 6% per year, BUT,,, that's not in a pure hourly rate. Spirit management is incorporate all the other pieces of the puzzle that ADD UP to 6%.

So if you look at it from the perspective of a Spirit pilot that hasn't had a Cost of Living raise in 4 years, and you add the 6% per year to their current rate, they still lose .5% (half a percent) of their income per year from increased cost of living.

At the end of 4 more years (2014), they're making 4% LESS than they were making back in 2006 when compared to actual spending power of that money.

Until there's a net GAIN of *SOME* sort, I don't blame them for turning it down... YMMV

 

[realmanofgenius]

would baldanza play the BK ch11 card in anyone's opinion as the nuclear option...to buy time and maybe hire a new cadre? is that conceivable? for a guy that wanted to charge for carry ons...it's in the sphere of where he operates...

 

[lostplnetairman]

Spirit is financed by investors Oaktree and Indigo. It's not Baldanza's sole call. If the investors want to write off the hundreds of millions they invested and invest in new millions of legal fees to unwind, sobeit. They would be bigger fools than anyone could imagine.

 

[realmanofgenius]

i wonder what the rules of ch11 are? there is no commandment stock has to be erased....or the new stock would go to indigo and oaktree at such level so as to replace or make them whole.....if the airline continues, it would have been cheaper to have just doubled the offer of 70 to 140 mil? right? what will it cost to using the current offer's math of 70 mil to make you guys whole or happy? trying to understand dollars and cents...are you close at all?

 

[OPECJet]

Fat man on Youtube alert!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSs-QXVKpIQ&feature=related

(Come to think of it, there's no way this blob is a man.)

 

[CX880]

Spirit will be out of business soon. Who's going to take over their flying? Airtran or Jetblue?

 

[rumorhasit]

What does the companies balance sheet look like? I mean has it made any money, is there growth in the $9 a flight but pay $50 bucks for a carryon bag?

 

[DieselDragRacer]

Is there any reason why the leasing company wouldn't be willing to put say the next 2 or 3 months of lease payments on the back end of Spirit's leases considering the circumstances? They do it all the time nowadays with mortgages and car loans and I'm sure the leasing company would rather extend the leases vs. repo'ing planes at a major loss.

Has any other airline done this in a strike situation in the past?

 

[BoilerUP]

As long as they don't declare BK (which is much harder these days than in 2005) Spirit still has to make payments on those airplanes, regardless if they're flying or idled...

 

[DieselDragRacer]

As long as they don't declare BK (which is much harder these days than in 2005) Spirit still has to make payments on those airplanes, regardless if they're flying or idled...

I know its apples and oranges but you don't need to file BK to have the next 3 or 4 months of your home or commercial mortgage or car loan put on the back end of your mortgage/loan if you've hit a financial hard spot such as a short term layoff.

Is there's a law or something contractually that says Spirit can't call the finance company and say obviously we aren't making money at the moment but we intend to resolve this issue within 3 months, so can we put the next 3 months of payments on the back of our lease(s)?

 

[crash312]

Is there's a law or something contractually that says Spirit can't call the finance company and say obviously we aren't making money at the moment but we intend to resolve this issue within 3 months, so can we put the next 3 months of payments on the back of our lease(s)?

There is no law against asking....however...think about it from a leasing company's perspective. The leasing company would have to be pretty confident that Spirit could get it's operation up and running in 3 months otherwise it goes to bankruptcy (reorg or liquidate) and not only do you have to deal with that but you also didn't get paid the last three months either.
Or...you take your money NOW while the airplanes aren't flying (the company is still solvent) and it adds pressure on the company to resolve things, thus assuring your lease payments keep coming in the future.

Remember, the CEO told everybody that the airline would keep operating during a strike...that lasted one roundtrip. If you had a financial stake would you believe him next time?

I know if I held the lease I would want this strike over quick. Do I want to gamble that this guy can 1) find enough guys to cross, 2)train them fast enough and 3) put paying people in seats after a 3 month shutdown and with 400+ angry pilots yelling at them when they arrive at the airport? Of course they will be yelling "your new pilots have 10 hours in the airplane and are unsafe".

 

[OldManPilot]

Hang in there guys! Fight the good fight. I have donated buddy passes to you if needed.