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I’m surprised Spirit is still building Dania Beach, especially since this is an acquisition and not a “merger” as many people seem to refer to it as.
 
I’m surprised Spirit is still building Dania Beach, especially since this is an acquisition and not a “merger” as many people seem to refer to it as.
They are still "planning as if the acquisition isn't happening" is what the official position from management is. Spirit has been aggressively growing the last few years and will continue to do so, with or without the merger.

As you say though, the term "merger" is indeed a misnomer, since the junior company is being completely bought out by the senior company and all assets reintegrated into the senior company.
 
putting all of their assets into a building that’s in a mandatory evacuation zone? unlikely
That's what the NYC OCC is for ;). I am surprised Spirit decided to make a new OCC even closer to the coast though. Storm surge is the biggest danger from tropical cyclones by far. I'm sure the building is very windproof at least.
 
That's what the NYC OCC is for ;). I am surprised Spirit decided to make a new OCC even closer to the coast though. Storm surge is the biggest danger from tropical cyclones by far. I'm sure the building is very windproof at least.
Closer to the coast than Miramar? I thought the new building was in Orlando.
 
Closer to the coast than Miramar? I thought the new building was in Orlando.
The old building is in Orlando. The one currently being built is in Dania Beach, which as its name implies, is quite close to the Atlantic Ocean. Then again, Miramar is close to the Everglades so it's six of one, half dozen of the other.
 
The old building is in Orlando. The one currently being built is in Dania Beach, which as its name implies, is quite close to the Atlantic Ocean. Then again, Miramar is close to the Everglades so it's six of one, half dozen of the other.
Spirit has a split OCC right now. One in Miramar where about 60% of OCC employees work and one in Orlando where the rest are. As of right now, I think their plan is to keep it that way. Dania Beach will just take the place of the Miramar OCC. No clue what happens if/when the merger goes through.
 
Spirit has a split OCC right now. One in Miramar where about 60% of OCC employees work and one in Orlando where the rest are. As of right now, I think their plan is to keep it that way. Dania Beach will just take the place of the Miramar OCC. No clue what happens if/when the merger goes through.
This sounds like a bigger charlie foxtrot than I had heard. Wow. Glad I have no part of that. Sorry to anyone dealing with it.
 
Spirit has needed more room for an OCC for a while. Having a split operation makes sense since they can't house it in one facility. Further, the MCO facility is built to withstand CAT 3 hurricane winds and flooding is not as much of a concern. Personally, I'd have no problems with being in Dania Beach and an occasional hurricane to contend with vs. High-cost, long commute time New York, which has to deal with both blizzards and tropical weather
 
Spirit has needed more room for an OCC for a while. Having a split operation makes sense since they can't house it in one facility. Further, the MCO facility is built to withstand CAT 3 hurricane winds and flooding is not as much of a concern. Personally, I'd have no problems with being in Dania Beach and an occasional hurricane to contend with vs. High-cost, long commute time New York, which has to deal with both blizzards and tropical weather
I agree. Just seems silly to move only part of your operation to MCO then build a second OCC back down near where the old one is. Why not just build a new one in MCO that's big enough for the entire operation. That and the merger is looming so all this silliness might be for nothing. All big distractions that can massively affect your operation on a day-to-day basis.
 
I agree. Just seems silly to move only part of your operation to MCO then build a second OCC back down near where the old one is. Why not just build a new one in MCO that's big enough for the entire operation. That and the merger is looming so all this silliness might be for nothing. All big distractions that can massively affect your operation on a day-to-day basis.

My limited understanding is MCO was a result of COVID and BNA falling through. They wanted to move the entire operation to Nashville, I think the union filed a lawsuit over it or something, when that died COVID was starting up and they needed to separate people so they opened up an OCC in MCO. I believe the union filed a lawsuit over that or something pertaining to that and it got tossed pretty quickly. The split operation is working well so they intended to keep it despite Dania Beach being in the works. Take it with a grain of salt, I may have the timeline or some details a little wrong, but that's the gist of what was explained to me.
 
My limited understanding is MCO was a result of COVID and BNA falling through. They wanted to move the entire operation to Nashville, I think the union filed a lawsuit over it or something, when that died COVID was starting up and they needed to separate people so they opened up an OCC in MCO. I believe the union filed a lawsuit over that or something pertaining to that and it got tossed pretty quickly. The split operation is working well so they intended to keep it despite Dania Beach being in the works. Take it with a grain of salt, I may have the timeline or some details a little wrong, but that's the gist of what was explained to me.
You're essentially correct in that the split OCC is working well for management (even Robin Hayes of JetBlue said they admire Spirit's split OCC model and will probably adopt it going forward), but there are quite a few dispatchers at Spirit (specifically old timers) who are pretty sour grapes about it. The bid lines are now split between the two domiciles (FLL and MCO), but operational need is allowing dispatchers with much less seniority to outbid a more senior dispatcher and have more desirable lines in MCO. A dispatcher who lives in FLL can still bid for a line in MCO, but they are expected to work at MCO and not FLL if they do this. I've been told that as a result of this policy that management just decided upon with little discussion, there are dispatchers who have only been with Spirit for six months who are getting better lines than people who have been with the company for six years, simply because they live in MCO.

The union renegotiation is going to try and rectify this as it is indeed quite unfair, but because there is no specific verbage about it in the contract, it will continue as is for the foreseeable future.
 
Spirit has needed more room for an OCC for a while. Having a split operation makes sense since they can't house it in one facility. Further, the MCO facility is built to withstand CAT 3 hurricane winds and flooding is not as much of a concern. Personally, I'd have no problems with being in Dania Beach and an occasional hurricane to contend with vs. High-cost, long commute time New York, which has to deal with both blizzards and tropical weather

I’ll take my 4 seasons and the occasional blizzard over Florida any day.
 
You're essentially correct in that the split OCC is working well for management (even Robin Hayes of JetBlue said they admire Spirit's split OCC model and will probably adopt it going forward), but there are quite a few dispatchers at Spirit (specifically old timers) who are pretty sour grapes about it. The bid lines are now split between the two domiciles (FLL and MCO), but operational need is allowing dispatchers with much less seniority to outbid a more senior dispatcher and have more desirable lines in MCO. A dispatcher who lives in FLL can still bid for a line in MCO, but they are expected to work at MCO and not FLL if they do this. I've been told that as a result of this policy that management just decided upon with little discussion, there are dispatchers who have only been with Spirit for six months who are getting better lines than people who have been with the company for six years, simply because they live in MCO.

The union renegotiation is going to try and rectify this as it is indeed quite unfair, but because there is no specific verbage about it in the contract, it will continue as is for the foreseeable future.

This is not unusual for crewmembers like pilots and FA's who maintain system seniority in addition to domicile seniority. Some crewmembers value living and working in their domicile over a better schedule, and some commute across country to go to work. Some pilots purposely remain FO's for most of their career because they live in base and have a good FO line and don't care about making CA. Some crew have homes where their airline has a crew base and yet choose to live the commuting life to have a better line in another base. Not as easy for a dispatcher to do this, I realize that, but this imbalance was bound to happen when 90% of the senior side of the list decided to stay in FLL. Many people from the middle of the list or junior took the offer to move and then management hired into MCO to fill the rest of the need for staff balancing.
 
This is not unusual for crewmembers like pilots and FA's who maintain system seniority in addition to domicile seniority. Some crewmembers value living and working in their domicile over a better schedule, and some commute across country to go to work. Some pilots purposely remain FO's for most of their career because they live in base and have a good FO line and don't care about making CA. Some crew have homes where their airline has a crew base and yet choose to live the commuting life to have a better line in another base. Not as easy for a dispatcher to do this, I realize that, but this imbalance was bound to happen when 90% of the senior side of the list decided to stay in FLL. Many people from the middle of the list or junior took the offer to move and then management hired into MCO to fill the rest of the need for staff balancing.

This is certainly some truth to this, however I believe the concern of the dispatchers there is in the contract.
From what I understand, it spells out bidding based off of a single seniority list. The company now wants to bid on lines and OT based off seniority lists within each domicile, therefore negatively impacting many (mostly in the more senior FLL base).
The bidding and domociles in pilot and FA contracts is clearly spelled out and respected.
Management is essentially writing it as they go now, and not even attempting to work with the union.
I don't think the dispatch group there is against the multiple locations, they just don't like the fact the management won't respect their contract or work with them in any way.
 
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