CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
It doesn’t really cost you anything but time to fill out apps and take a couple of interviews.
Spirit Furloughing
- Thread starter ASpilot2be
- Start date
Box hauler
Well-Known Member
You would be surprised how many people I’ve talked to who say they’re going to wait and see what happens before submitting their apps. I just don’t get it
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Sort of the opposite of FOMO.
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
I've watched people ride impossible (or at least very, very improbable) situations into the ground for any number of reasons. The most common is that they have their lives set up so there is no possible alternative. Sometimes that's no fault of their own, life happens and has spat them out and deposited them in that spot, and other times it is entirely self induced. I knew one dude, who was otherwise very together, who had a personal life that was a complete dumpster fire 24/7. For him, there was no alternative than to punch the clock every day, and live paycheck to paycheck. He wasn't going anywhere, because even a two week hiatus would cause financial catastrophe, even if there was more money on the back end. While he was fine professionally, I couldn't be around him more than a few minutes outside of work, because he was chaos incarnate, and it would spill into everything he touched outside of work.
No way on this green earth that I could tolerate that kind of personal situation, but I know several people who live right on the razor's edge, and happily exist there for years, even decades.
Other people just can't help to roll those dice one more time. "Hey, everyone quits, and when we survive, I'll be single digit seniority, left seat widebody".
To be fair, there is a healthy dose of luck involved. If you bail, you need to have a solid plan and hope that wherever you wind up is better than what you left. I knew a guy who had 10 uniforms in his closet, including Braniff, Eastern, and PanAm. Others do OK. Some people who bailed out of Braniff wound up at NWA, and retired whale captains. Some bailed out, went to Allegheny or Piedmont, then "local service carriers", and sat on the top of the list at USAir for a lot of years. A lot of senior guys who waited it out wound up throwing gear for their juniors.
It's definitely not black and white....lots of grey. How grey? Charcoal.
No way on this green earth that I could tolerate that kind of personal situation, but I know several people who live right on the razor's edge, and happily exist there for years, even decades.
Other people just can't help to roll those dice one more time. "Hey, everyone quits, and when we survive, I'll be single digit seniority, left seat widebody".
To be fair, there is a healthy dose of luck involved. If you bail, you need to have a solid plan and hope that wherever you wind up is better than what you left. I knew a guy who had 10 uniforms in his closet, including Braniff, Eastern, and PanAm. Others do OK. Some people who bailed out of Braniff wound up at NWA, and retired whale captains. Some bailed out, went to Allegheny or Piedmont, then "local service carriers", and sat on the top of the list at USAir for a lot of years. A lot of senior guys who waited it out wound up throwing gear for their juniors.
It's definitely not black and white....lots of grey. How grey? Charcoal.
Autothrust Blue
Welcome aboard the Washington State Ferries
ECIC was waste motion.
DE727UPS
Well-Known Member
Totally contrary view but you never know what's going to happen. What if you bail and six months later the place gets bought out. Lists get merged. And you end up senior to a guy that bailed. No specific examples but I'm sure it's happened. To bad we don't have a crystal ball.
Murdoughnut
Well sized member
I don't know about the pilot side, but I do know some corporate Value Jet folks who stuck it out and were better off for doing so.
Autothrust Blue
Welcome aboard the Washington State Ferries
Oh, it wouldn't be career-complete if I wasn't junior to myself at some point.
CFIT99
I'm probably commenting ironically...
seriously, I don't understand...
tried to get a buddy of mine over from Spirit a few years ago (has two kids and the only income, I totally understand his position of not/can't leave just yet)
He texts me last month about helping him. I said of course but fair warning, hypothetically if you interviewed tomorrow, you probably won't be in class till spring of next year, so expect it to be a while.
at least start the process because it is long and there's a line...
Box hauler
Well-Known Member
To be honest, I think it’s laziness for many pilots. Talked a few folks that said how long it would take to update their logbooks. I applied and did meet n greets last year and finally interviewed with a legacy yesterday. Anyone starting today is going to be at the back of a long list of very qualified applicants.
ClearedForOption
Displaced... again.
I'm so entrenched at my job that it makes zero financial sense to even think about moving... (top of scale, 30-something %, even though I'm being displaced into a transcon commute till Halley's Comet shows back up again, etc. ) I still 1.) Keep a very accurate logbook. (except I still can't figure out - or the L10Pro folks won't help - scale my comments field so that I can print out my sometimes verbose notes) and 2.) Still network.
I post here, I volunteer with the association, I help people, the whole kit and caboodle. Because, you never know...
I did 1/2 fill out some apps when Uncle Carl took a huge stake in the Air-Ways - but that was more of a nervous pacing kind of thing. If/When things would be looking bad, I'll be dusting off my funeral suit and putting in the work.
I guess all this to say... doing the work costs nothing except some time vs. doomscrolling.
Autothrust Blue
Welcome aboard the Washington State Ferries
The chattering classes will do anything EXCEPT the work.
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
I think this has happened to @ZapBrannigan a couple of times. I understand it is a total crapshoot, and I also understand wanting to ride it out, especially with a limited amount of working years. I don't understand why people wouldn't at least consider other options and at least get the ball rolling in the right direction in case things don't work out.
Kingairer
'Tiger Team' Member
If you get the ball rolling before you’re ready you may get forced into a burn the bridge decision before you’re ready. Not saying that’s what they should do but it’s a consideration and counter to narrative of shotgunning resumes and apps.
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
To do so is to reach an emotional decision that what is happening right now is, indeed, happening. There is a certain amount of denial in these cases.
Had a bud ride an operator into the ground. They literally evaporated overnight, and left everyone holding the bag. In this case, he was eyes wide open, knew the score, had some personal connex, and some open ended options to walk into. He had the luxury, if you can call it that, of watching it implode from the inside.
His insights of watching his co-workers react differently to the same set of facts was an interesting exercise in amateur psychology.
ClearedForOption
Displaced... again.
You probably still have a copy of the working agreement on your computer still - what does Spirit's Sec. 1 have to say about pilots being 'sold' with the assets? 25%+ and you have to take the peasants with the planes and etc.?
I'm just thinking out loud but if I were facing Ch. 7 I'd be hoping for a large asset transfer/sale.
BobDDuck
Island Bus Driver
Unfortunately with the size many carriers have become, fragmentation triggers above 20% require such a big number of frames to kick in that the language isn't super useful.
ClearedForOption
Displaced... again.
Well, that's a bummer.