Spirit QOL

[exeagle]

I've done a few searches and haven't come up with too much.

How is life at Spirit? Reserve callout/ daysoff? Major Pros and Cons with current contract? General pilot morale? Hiring #s and attrition?

What are you guys trying to gain in the new contract?

Thanks....

 

[cruxx@9]

I've done a few searches and haven't come up with too much.

How is life at Spirit? Reserve callout/ daysoff? Major Pros and Cons with current contract? General pilot morale? Hiring #s and attrition?

What are you guys trying to gain in the new contract?

Thanks....

There are many threads here pertaining to this subject. But to recap:

Life at Spirit...depends who you ask. Living in base is great...if you like south florida which some people do. (great country to visit...so close to the US and all, no passport to visit, languages spoken: spanish, Haitian, not english)

Reserve callout/days off: 3 hours to push. Min 12 or 13 days off depending on days in the month

Pros and Cons of contract: It's not that bad for what it was. A few QOL pros. Cons are low pay, especially for FO's. A lot of gray areas.

General Pilot Morale: Depends who you ask. If you ask a former DTW based guy he might say "go screw yourself". LOL. Most (original) FLL guys are fairly, cautiously good spirited. We are watching a train wreck in progress but it will probably turn out okay depending on the new contract. We are going through a contract right now...so it's the game of fu*k fu*k. Management screws with us and we screw with them. Hopefully after the contract is settled then things will go back to normal. There are a lot of changes taking place...a lot of differing attitudes right now...mostly because of the contract negotiations.

Hiring AND attrition will continue for quite some time. Spirit is understaffed and hiring as much as the training dept can handle. Pilots that were going to stay before the DTW base closure are probably now going back to their furloughed carriers (now that they have to commute anyway). We will probably loose another handful that would rather commute anywhere else except to FLL. Rumor has it at least another 100 pilots will be hired. IF they get the A320's that they have been talking about for the last 8 months...then more. But there isn't any 320's here. We are getting 2 more 319's next year, but losing the 321's...so fleet doesn't change in size. If no 320's come...we will actually shrink a bit. More 319's in 2009-2012 or so they say. Will be hiring a lot in anticipation for that in 2008 I would assume.

What we want in the next contract: EVERYTHING!

It's not that bad here...but niether was communism to some people. It's all what you make of it. There are positives, but if you get hired and once the newness wears off you'll look around and at least once a day say, "what in the f*ck are they doing?"

good luck

 

[enigma]

..................................We are going through a contract right now...so it's the game of fu*k fu*k. Management screws with us and we screw with them. Hopefully after the contract is settled then things will go back to normal. There are a lot of changes taking place...a lot of differing attitudes right now...mostly because of the contract negotiations.

I wish I could agree, BUT - the change is NOT contract negotiations and things will NOT return to "normal" after the negotiations are done. This is the root of many current Spirit Pilot mis-perceptions. It is thought that you "can go home' but they refuse to realize that Spirit is no longer a flying club. The are ignoring the obvious. Here are a few points that should shed some light on the situation.

The past was: a hobby owner floundering around while he attempted to run away from competition, a homegrown operations staff, and a homegrown stations staffing.

The present is: the Texas Pacific Group of moneychangers in the ownership role, hired guns running operations, and a completely hostile (to crew and pax) station organization.

To those who believe that Spirit will ever return to normal, I say "put down the crack pipe"!

The overall negative tone at Spirit is not the result of contract negotiations, it is the result of a Spirit legal staff directed by Ford and Harrison lawyers. Yes, Spirit is using F&H for more than just contract negotiations. It is the result of a pilot hating (FA who got dumped by a pilot) CS Supervisor, being directed by an ex-NWA "catch me if you can, you're contract doesn't mean anything" Senior Director of Crew Planning. It is the result of a CEO who admittedly doesn't believe that taking care of employees and customers is the secret to business success. It is the result of an ownership group, led by ex America West CEO Bill Franke, that believes its competitive advantage comes from low paid employees. Need I go on?

 

[Skippy]

Neat...

What about your nifty director of ops and his chief pilot????

 

[enigma]

What about your nifty director of ops and his chief pilot????

They both enact policies set by BB, MH and BF. They're nothing more than willing pawns, or maybe unwilling in the CP's part. I'm amazed that he has made it this long.

 

[Skippy]

Just wondering...

We get your guys j/s alot and they seem to feel like it is a new regime of threats and intimidation.... Was curious as to why?

 

[enigma]

We get your guys j/s alot and they seem to feel like it is a new regime of threats and intimidation.... Was curious as to why?

Because, the CP excepted, the entire operations management is ex Northwest; a company with a long history of bad labor relations. They pay lip service to attempting a culture change, but they never interned with SWA if you know what I mean.

 

[Skippy]

So they are pretty much the a$$holes that everyone seems to be saying they are?? I was interested at one point about NK, but it seems like ALOT of turmoil and crappy management styles.....Pretty close to the truth??

 

[Mike man]

I thought as far a orders it was 45 320's on order and due to some carrier canceling orders they were going to start showing up Q3 2008 and continue until they were all here.

I hear the hiring will be indefinite...with minimum of 80 this year and minimum of 180 next year.

As far a labor relations...coming from a CHQ/TSA/ASA/Mesa type airline with senior people getting the minimum days off of 8-12 and bitter, bitter labor relations it is an improvement.
FWIW