Shock-Diamonds
Well-Known Member
If this is including LUP it’s a realistic scale. Legacies hourly is about $46/hr without.
Spirit Hiring
- Thread starter 757Geek
- Start date
If this is including LUP it’s a realistic scale. Legacies hourly is about $46/hr without.
LaCorderaVoladora
Well-Known Member
That depends which legacy you’re talking about. AA for instance (after you’re off training) starts around $86k without license pay, and about $94k with. They work 1750 hrs a year so that’s about $49/hr. United works more hours but similar starting pay so that would be about $46/hr. And I thought DL started similar too but heard they start closer to $90k before license. Not sure how many hours they work a year. Southwest has their new phenomenal starting pay of nearly $100k and they’re now supposed to work 1750 hours as well? So that’s $57/hr. My numbers may be off but either way legacies are $46-$57/hr before license pay. I don’t think shooting for $44 is too much for an airline that could potentially become the 5th largest, is larger than Allegiant who now starts at $80k, has international flights all over Latin America and the Caribbean, and is located in a very high cost of living part of the country. $44-$45 is a good starting point so that when the company negotiates and begins chipping away at what you want they can’t low ball so extremely. Imagine if you start with $40/hr what you’ll end up with. Not much. Besides in another 3-5 years COL will be even higher so pay will need to keep up.
Very soon, they're losing more dispatchers to united and southwest and some quit or went to pursue other aviation careers so keep an eye out
Thank you I will
onlyblueskies
Well-Known Member
This is all just due to low pay and high cost of living? Or is there more to this? They seem like a regional that everyone wants to dip from.
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iono
Well-Known Member
due to an old contract with a low pay scale and a poor relationship between the union and management. so talks of a TA or new contract seem to be in limbo
Low pay and high COL is definitely a huge driving factor. There are several like me who have homes in Texas or Illinois and do not like living in Florida and the uncertainty of where the final OCC will be is also very unappealing
They're making excuses to drag their feet because of the merger and looks like they will be postponing any kind of decision until this merger which is very disrespectful to all NK dispatchers
Also, not fun work days where almost all your flights are going in and out of FL. We all know what happens there
Shock-Diamonds
Well-Known Member
Spirit is NOT becoming the 5th largest airline. They are selling everything they own to JetBlue which will be the 5th largest airline. This is not a merger, Spirit will soon no longer exist. So this point is kinda pointless.
iono
Well-Known Member
gopherdx
Well-Known Member
You’re not wrong, in a financial transaction sense. But for all intents and purposes, this is a merger of workgroups, which concerns most in this forum.
Shock-Diamonds
Well-Known Member
Or what I should’ve said was, that’s more of a negotiation tool they can use at JetBlue but Spirit can likely only negotiate on what Spirit is right now.
To chime in on what GoldiLocks was saying….
I also am a former NK Dispatcher that has moved on to a legacy carrier after a significant time with the company. Here are my two to ten cents on the operation….
The Good…the software while buggy is actually pretty good. The Mx side is top notch with great controllers and clean planes of the same fleet type, you will rarely have a hard issue. The facilities are pretty decent and nice to be in.
Now for the not so good…
Reiterating what Goldilocks was saying about the OCC debacle, it was an absolute nightmare…for the better part of a decade NK leadership talked about moving the operation out of South Florida keeping individuals completely in the dark…seriously YEARS of not being able to plan personal, financial, family life…. As someone who has been there, three major pushes for new OCCs and news breaking faster online from 3rd party sites or the company, rather than by management sitting 20 feet away from you about your own fate is fairly dehumanizing. When the company finally decided to move everyone to Orlando the moving package was comical for individuals that owned homes, it was so low that people would essentially be taking a financial loss to move on behalf of the company.
There is systemic abuse of the CBA by Spirit. Last Ive heard from individuals on the line there are 35-45 active grievances (with the figure at one time being in the 50s) for 100 dispatchers, with comparable majors having a fraction of that for 3-4x as many paying members. Currently the item that is most infuriating to everyone on the line is the company's decision to split the seniority list and available lines between bases, so someone that has 5 years in FLL could have a less favorable line than someone in MCO that has 8 months of service.
The pay is currently not liveable unless you live with roommates. At the starting pay of 55k a year, 49% of your pay in FLL or 43% of your pay in MCO will be going to rent for an average apartment (median price). There is some hope with a new contractual agreement due soon but the last one took years with an arbitration team to come to fruition and with the merger looming it could be a very long time til things get better.
If you cant tell by my writing all of this, morale on the line is pretty much broken with years of being jerked around, underpaid compared to our industry peers (comparable fleet size wise ie AS/B6), and a general sense of distrust between the line and company/management.
To those individuals that have been hired congrats, I can promise you it will be one of the enjoyable groups of people that you will ever work with, absorb as much as you can from the upper 1/3-1/4 of the seniority list as they are a wealth of knowledge and remain some of the best Dispatchers in the industry. But if you are sub Five years of service? Get out, use it as an experience/resume builder to move on to a career shop like the 40+ dispatchers/sector supervisors/dispatch managers in recent years have done so myself included. Good luck
gopherdx
Well-Known Member
Unlikely moving out but likely a split SOC at least for the medium term post merger.
Shock-Diamonds
Well-Known Member
It’s looking more likely that both will be an option. JetBlue’s HQ has to stay in in NYC, they’re currently renovating, there’s no way the extra people would fit beside the fact that they wouldn’t come to NY anyway, most people in NY want to go to FL, JB has already announced it’s keeping Dania Beach, they also sent a letter to employees stating nobody on either side will have to relocate if they don’t want to.
I’d say those are good signs, especially the last one. Hopefully it will end up being perfect for all involved and another “Big” airline for the industry which would be great.
LaCorderaVoladora
Well-Known Member
I am very aware B6 is buying NK. That’s why I said “potentially become the 5th largest” as in the combing of the two to become a larger JetBlue. I am not going to waste time arguing over semantics. I am advocating with support for my old company and ex coworkers who I love, to get better pay. I believe they deserve the best.
To throw in my two cents, besides all these current issues, I loved working and living there. Tbh I really miss it and would come back. Just can’t get by on the current pay.
Shock-Diamonds
Well-Known Member
I was just saying that you’re arguing a point that is factually inaccurate. The only thing Spirit is “potentially” becoming, is nothing at all. In two years time, Spirit will be sitting on a beach surrounded by hoe’s and a yacht. Hard to ask them to pay a future salary for a company they won’t be a part of.
iono
Well-Known Member
you are delusional
Shock-Diamonds
Well-Known Member
Please explain?
