What was the bomb shell news at Spirit today 7/31?

[coogebeachhotel]

Heard on the jumpseat some talk about everyone at outstations, DTW closing.

What is up?

 

[LearLove]

outstations

nothing like a 2 leg commute to an outstation.

 

[enigma]

Heard on the jumpseat some talk about everyone at outstations, DTW closing.

What is up?

DTW is closing as a crew base as of Oct first. All pilots will be FLL based. The union will attempt to delay, or prevent, the closure. Sadly, some Spirit pilots have very recently resigned from carriers such as UAL and AAA because they didn't want to leave DTW.

As of now, it appears that Spirit is serious about Caribbean/Central American expansion.

USAJet will see a few Spirit pilots attempting a return to the DC9. I suspect that NWA will also get a few resumes.

 

[CRJammin]

Who's Spirit?

 

[Full of LUV]

News Flash

DTW is closing as a crew base as of Oct first. All pilots will be FLL based. The union will attempt to delay, or prevent, the closure. Sadly, some Spirit pilots have very recently resigned from carriers such as UAL and AAA because they didn't want to leave DTW.

As of now, it appears that Spirit is serious about Caribbean/Central American expansion.

USAJet will see a few Spirit pilots attempting a return to the DC9. I suspect that NWA will also get a few resumes.

DTW is not the end all/be all place to live..... There are other places that are actually quite nice domiciles, think more west..... I can't fathom quitting over not being based in DTW of all places, was CLE just too overcrowded????

 

[enigma]

I can't fathom quitting over not being based in DTW of all places, was CLE just too overcrowded????

You and I may not be able to fathom quitting because DTW isn't a base, but to a large group of DTW based Spirit pilots, DTW is almost religous. Some will quit.

 

[PCL_128]

DTW is not the end all/be all place to live..... There are other places that are actually quite nice domiciles, think more west..... I can't fathom quitting over not being based in DTW of all places, was CLE just too overcrowded????

You ever stop to think that maybe some people grew up in the Detroit area, have family there, and don't want to leave? I think the place is a complete dump too, but some people call it home, and I can understand them not wanting to leave.

 

[F9 Driver]

If we get any cheaper you'll be able to bid DEN!

 

[Redmeat]

If you get North or West of the Ann Arbor area about 30 miles from DTW it is beautiful.

Some of the prettiest fresh water lakes I've fished.

North and East of the airport is the outskirts of Detroit, and yes it's a dump.

Most guys that live here don't live around the airport.

Most live West in Chelsea, Dexter, Pinckney, Brighton, Etc. Trust me these places are little slices of suburbia straight out of Pleasantville.

Seen many areas surrounding Major airports that aren't a dump?

 

[Lear70]

DTW is not the end all/be all place to live..... There are other places that are actually quite nice domiciles, think more west..... I can't fathom quitting over not being based in DTW of all places, was CLE just too overcrowded????

You must not commute in and out of Florida much.

These guys will NOT uproot their homes in that area. I was based up there for 4 years; the areas towards Ann Arbor, up North towards Birmingham and Grosse Pointe and further, etc are all absolutely BEAUTIFUL places to live.

Now they will have to commute each week in and out of South Florida, a historically crappy commute to say the least.

If they have the opportunity to jump ship to another carrier that is DTW-based with red tails, I'd not be surprised to see more than a few take it.

 

[NuGuy]

Now they will have to commute each week in and out of South Florida, a historically crappy commute to say the least.

If they have the opportunity to jump ship to another carrier that is DTW-based with red tails, I'd not be surprised to see more than a few take it.

Heyas Lear,

I did the reverse commute for several years. Even on-line, it was a MAJOR PITA.

It doesn't help that FLL is major league commuter unfriendly (how about those non-based parking rates?). And the BSO is a bunch of mean spirited goons.

Word around the shop is that NWA is having a VERY difficult time recruiting, so any apps by qualified 320 pilots would probably be quite welcome.

Nu

 

[oz8910]

This proves management talks BS up front and jams the knife in your back. I cant wait to see the melt down as of Oct 1. And I allways love the guys that bash DTW, did you ever get out of Romulus? I have been here 7 years and will start to farm out the resume. I have lived in Fl in the past and will never do that again. Thanks for the sincere letter JC

 

[Lear70]

Heyas Nu. Yeah, I've been hearing the red-tail HR peeps have had some trouble recently with recruiting.

I also heard the application process is kind of odd. Put in your address, phone and email, click the boxes that say yes, you meet their minimums, and upload your resume. How are they going to screen from that? By hand?

Can't imagine getting hired on and flowing back to Compass for the winter, then back to mainline for summer, then back to Compass again one more time before enough people are hired below you to keep you out of Compass, but it seems like that's a very real possibility your first year or two there.

Maybe I'm missing something, I often do. :beer:

 

[iaflyer]

Wow - I would of never expected this. When Spirit was hiring it seemed like they put emphasis on hiring pilot from the DTW area. What are all those guys going to do - commute to Florida (which is a hell of a commute)?

Ann Arbor is a nice town - a bit pricer than the area around DTW but a lot nicer - I'm happy I live here. Further west (Chelsea, Dexter, etc) is nice as well.

 

[Frequency]

How many pilots are currently based in DTW?

 

[need2fly]

How many pilots are currently based in DTW?

Almost 200

 

[Lear70]

Ouch!

 

[Sandhawk]

Ya gotta love Bill Franke!

 

[CKJET]

The city of Detroit is the arm pit of the earth....however there are some very nice places not to far away. Truth is any city is like that.

JFK/LGA/EWR is also bad right around the airports but go a south a little in NJ and you have some real nice places to live.

Good Luck to the Spirit guys, Commuting to FLL will not be as easy as some but it can be done.

 

[lionflyer]

The city of Detroit is the arm pit of the earth....however there are some very nice places not to far away. Truth is any city is like that.

JFK/LGA/EWR is also bad right around the airports but go a south a little in NJ and you have some real nice places to live.

Good Luck to the Spirit guys, Commuting to FLL will not be as easy as some but it can be done.

And what's the cost of living a little south of NJ??? Or even a little any where from FLL???

 

[Redmeat]

And what's the cost of living a little south of NJ??? Or even a little any where from FLL???

Yeah, for some that company went from a diamond in the rough to a complete nightmare, facing one of the most notorious commutes in the industry with this announcement.

 

[i fly boxes]

as a resident of a detroit suburb my whole life, I would never want to live elsewhere. Most people only see the area around the airport and that is not the greatest. The suburbs around Detroit are really nice, and michigan itself has much to offer, Beaches, Great Sports teams, and downtown detroit is cool and getting much much better. If the auto industry wasnt tanking it would be even better. I feel for the spirit guys, I myself was maybe going to apply there but not anymore. Good luck.

 

[Full of LUV]

DTW your whole life??????

as a resident of a detroit suburb my whole life, I would never want to live elsewhere. Most people only see the area around the airport and that is not the greatest. The suburbs around Detroit are really nice, and michigan itself has much to offer, Beaches, Great Sports teams, and downtown detroit is cool and getting much much better. If the auto industry wasnt tanking it would be even better. I feel for the spirit guys, I myself was maybe going to apply there but not anymore. Good luck.

This is my point, instead of apoligizing for your city and saying where it's nice, try somewhere else, you may just like it. Funny how someone says they have lived there their whole life and everywhere else sucks. People in Texas actually think their beaches are nice?????? There is a whole 'nuther world out side the city limits of DTW, many an opportunity!

 

[Redmeat]

This is my point, instead of apoligizing for your city and saying where it's nice, try somewhere else, you may just like it. Funny how someone says they have lived there their whole life and everywhere else sucks. People in Texas actually think their beaches are nice?????? There is a whole 'nuther world out side the city limits of DTW, many an opportunity!

Full of LUV, you're Full of Sh1t.

Thanks

 

[DrewBlows]

This is my point, instead of apoligizing for your city and saying where it's nice, try somewhere else, you may just like it. Funny how someone says they have lived there their whole life and everywhere else sucks. People in Texas actually think their beaches are nice?????? There is a whole 'nuther world out side the city limits of DTW, many an opportunity!

Should people ask their entire extended family to move to FLL because they "may just like it"? You apparently have no problem moving at the whim of your company, not everyone else feels this way. They are not wrong for feeling this way and neither are you. Everyone has their own agenda.

 

[alpine1989]

Will DTW flying be significantly cut, or just re-shuffle of bases?

 

[NuGuy]

Heyas,

I feel for you guys. But to those DTW haters, FLL is no great shakes either.

Taxes and insurance in orbit, every other driver either uninsured or unlicensed (or both), rude people year around (not just seasonal anymore) and that's just to start.

But the real estate market has been in free fall for some months now, and people are getting desperate to head off forclosures, so there might be some deals.

Nu

 

[Lear70]

Peak foreclosure market estimated to be Nov-Jan this year, then start to recover.

People have a bad tendency to get to the holidays, realize if they pay their mortgages which are already 90+ days behind, they won't have any money to pay for Christmas presents. They already have no hopes of selling their home when it's priced $10,000 over everyone else's just to cover the loan, so they just say "screw it" and let it go.

You can get them with a short sale right before the foreclosure date directly from the bank or you can wait for the Bank to take the home and pick it up as REO property.

Have been watching some Destin, FL property as well as some rental homes here in my area. Trying to figure out if I can get an umbrella policy big enough to tie in the FL property and not have to buy property insurance specific for a FL beach home - the insurance rates are crazy!

Good luck to the DTW peeps. Hopefully, Spirit will keep running the non-stops and you can have your own jumpseat source getting to- and from-. That's been the hardest part of this job for me - my own airline doesn't service my home city so I'm always schlepping on Delta or NWA thru MEM or just having to drive which, of course, isn't an option for you guys.

 

[Full of LUV]

It's happens biannually if your military!

Should people ask their entire extended family to move to FLL because they "may just like it"? You apparently have no problem moving at the whim of your company, not everyone else feels this way. They are not wrong for feeling this way and neither are you. Everyone has their own agenda.

If your in the military, you move dang near every two years, especially as you get near the top. My point is should Spirit keep a base in DTW just so their people don't have to commute or should they make sound financial decisions? I don't know anything about their business model, but I find it puzzling that people will walk away from their dream job because the domicile changes. Look at the poor regional guys, they seem to open and close bases like an accordian. As Lear said, you might pick up a piece of real estate at bottom feeder prices just don't get caught in this 12 hurricane storm season the experts say were having this year.......

 

[PCL_128]

but I find it puzzling that people will walk away from their dream job because the domicile changes.

For many people, a job is only a dream job because it gives you the ability to drive to work everyday at the place you want to live. When you either have to move to some place you don't want to live, or have to commute on one of the worst commutes in the country, it's not exactly that "dream job" anymore. This isn't the military. Most people in this business aren't willing to just uproot their entire lives and move to some random place.