Getting Spirit Pilots Home

Richman said:
Despite being a largely pragmatic group of people, pilots can't seem to resist rolling the dice on what would otherwise be a recognizably bad situation or be willing to tolerate a short term loss for long term gain.
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There was an element of "rolling the dice" - but there was also a good chance of a rescue, depending on what the Illuminati ultimately decided to do, those decisions are really above our pay grade. I also really think it's a math problem at this point for those of us not at a carrier that's "too big to fail"---> X number of years left, incremental increases in the pay scales at a new job, seniority loss, seat loss, retirement contributions, time value of money, QOL considerations, etc.

Not trying to argue here... but It's easy to pontificate from a very safe spot on a legacy seniority list, having already survived those various "career destructive" events - almost 20 years or more ago now in the case of the Widget and NWA. I will say that I'm telling everyone that's in the bottom quartile (and even bottom 1/2) of our list... do your personal math, fill out those apps, do the work to secure other employment - and then decide if it's right for you to go. (if it makes sense for you - @killbilly for instance, dude... you know that you could be driving to work, right?)

The other lesson that I am taking from all of this is: continue to update my logbook (which I've been doing since day 1 - just flew with a FO that's been updating about 2-4 months a night on his layovers), keep up networking, keep up with my "soft" skills (which is somewhat hard now that I've started my 2nd job of a transcon commute) my resume still looks decent and I have my committee work which looks real good - and ultimately be ready, just in case... if the wheels fall off. And hopefully, the industry will be able to absorb my whole pilot group just like it's prepared to aborb the entire Spirit pilot group this year.

Oh, I have my "interview story" now - had a pretty big non-normal recently that came to a very successful conclusion - so at least I have that going for me. But, it's my hope that I won't have to interview again.

The last time I was furloughed - no one was hiring. At least this time around, it's different.
 
ClearedForOption said:
There was an element of "rolling the dice" - but there was also a good chance of a rescue, depending on what the Illuminati ultimately decided to do, those decisions are really above our pay grade. I also really think it's a math problem at this point for those of us not at a carrier that's "too big to fail"---> X number of years left, incremental increases in the pay scales at a new job, seniority loss, seat loss, retirement contributions, time value of money, QOL considerations, etc.

Not trying to argue here... but It's easy to pontificate from a very safe spot on a legacy seniority list, having already survived those various "career destructive" events - almost 20 years or more ago now in the case of the Widget and NWA. I will say that I'm telling everyone that's in the bottom quartile (and even bottom 1/2) of our list... do your personal math, fill out those apps, do the work to secure other employment - and then decide if it's right for you to go. (if it makes sense for you - @killbilly for instance, dude... you know that you could be driving to work, right?)

The other lesson that I am taking from all of this is: continue to update my logbook (which I've been doing since day 1 - just flew with a FO that's been updating about 2-4 months a night on his layovers), keep up networking, keep up with my "soft" skills (which is somewhat hard now that I've started my 2nd job of a transcon commute) my resume still looks decent and I have my committee work which looks real good - and ultimately be ready, just in case... if the wheels fall off. And hopefully, the industry will be able to absorb my whole pilot group just like it's prepared to aborb the entire Spirit pilot group this year.

Oh, I have my "interview story" now - had a pretty big non-normal recently that came to a very successful conclusion - so at least I have that going for me. But, it's my hope that I won't have to interview again.

The last time I was furloughed - no one was hiring. At least this time around, it's different.
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I'm going to pile on here.

Leaving a place like Spirit in late 2019 for a job at a legacy carrier, at a point when Spirit was printing money, would have resulted in getting immediately punched in the face by COVID while at the bottom of a very large list.

Did it work out? Eventually, but there were a whole bunch of pilots in the UNA category at Delta, or getting one third pay at United. Didn't American actually furlough?

Same thing now; we're about to see another oil shock with the straight having been closed for 3 months. You can't shut off 20% of the global supply of oil for that long and get away without any economic damage.

If a guy is at the bottom of a list right now, sure, there's no risk in jumping. But once you're off the bottom 20% the risks start to become real. The prospect of going from making $200 an hour to zero dollars an hour while the economy falls apart isn't something a whole lot of folks will be able to handle financially.
 
Richman said:
Despite being a largely pragmatic group of people, pilots can't seem to resist rolling the dice on what would otherwise be a recognizably bad situation or be willing to tolerate a short term loss for long term gain.
Click to expand...
Respectfully...what?! My decision to ride it out had nothing to do with not recognizing the situation. Rather it was a calculated decision on what was best for me with the available information on hand. Of course there was the threat of shutdown; but considering my age, seniority, and the prospect of another merger attempt it made sense for me to simply ride it out and hope for the best.
 
Sorry didn’t mean to start a dogpile. My only point was why not put out some apps and get the process started? Taking an interview doesn’t mean you have to take a job.
 
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