Getting Spirit Pilots Home

TUCKnTRUCK said:
You all get points now? For a while I amazed stays like it was my job… and had like 0 points lol.
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Yeah, like was said, super hotel specific. I got em mostly from my other job(s), and also just traveling for fun, since I almost always forget that they exist and never use them. At least the vast majority. I got airline miles/bongo bucks though!!! Thats straight from the company since I rarely buy tickets on our metal anymore (not that I wouldn't, just don't need to, or we don't go there) :)
 
///AMG said:
Yeah, like was said, super hotel specific. I got em mostly from my other job(s). At least the vast majority. I got airline miles/bongo bucks though!!! Thats straight from the company :)
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Ah nice. Corporate here so I get points, booked on my Hilton/Marriott cards and reimbursed, so get all the bonuses etc.
 
TUCKnTRUCK said:
Ah nice. Corporate here so I get points, booked on my Hilton/Marriott cards and reimbursed, so get all the bonuses etc.
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Yep, corporate card travel was the •. Especially when they didn't really GAF what I spent. Slightly different than corporate *flying* in nature, but I imagine the perks are largely the same.
 
///AMG said:
Yep, corporate card travel was the •. Especially when they didn't really GAF what I spent. Slightly different than corporate *flying* in nature, but I imagine the perks are largely the same.
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Probably… I mean we also chase a boat around the world, and now have a sudden increased travel load to the ME😂 joking- but yeah same idea.
 
TUCKnTRUCK said:
Probably… I mean we also chase a boat around the world, and now have a sudden increased travel load to the ME😂 joking- but yeah same idea.
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Oh I've been out of that game since I left said boat at the end of 2019. But I do like chasing boat hotties. I remember that cruise, we were all crowded into the one hotel in Duqm Oman (because ironically our admiral was afraid to go through the straits to normal ports like Dubai/bahrain because of Iranian "aggression" under trump 1.0/John Bolton, before trump completely abandoned being hard on Iran), and this ships company ordie (I recognized her from the ships store line) was in her swimsuit from the pool at the hotel bar, and holy god was she not a stereotypical ordie. I wish whomever she found that night, fair weather and following seas
 
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Eagle421flyer said:
I'm not on here much as I'm on LTD (with/was Spirit). I am/was 20% on the senority list. I thought similarly to you as to my stability at a shrinking company. I could not leave because of being on LTD, that being said if I was not on LTD I would have at least put my apps out and tried to leave. I completely understand where you are coming from I too was hoping for a transactional event up until the end, but alas, no matter what your seniority is when they shut the doors it's finite.. I too have about 13 years left in my career. I had hoped once done with my medical event to return to flying (at spirit) until I retire. I am not saying this to be pessimistic but perhaps throwing out apps never hurts. My wife once told me you don't have a decision to make until you have a decision to make. Throw your apps out and see what happens. You are not that different than me from one week ago other than being on LTD.
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So how does that work when you’re on LTD? Do you get to stay on LTD? Or did you get an end date?

I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. I was on LTD for 18 months, mostly because the FAA is insanely slow at processing literally everything.
 
GypsyPilot said:
So how does that work when you’re on LTD? Do you get to stay on LTD? Or did you get an end date?

I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. I was on LTD for 18 months, mostly because the FAA is insanely slow at processing literally everything.
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It depends. Generally however, as it’s already approved, it will continue for the duration of ltd. Group coverage will be gone at some point tbd by the closure.
///AMG said:
Oh I've been out of that game since I left said boat at the end of 2019. But I do like chasing boat hotties. I remember that cruise, we were all crowded into the one hotel in Duqm Oman (because ironically our admiral was afraid to go through the straits to normal ports like Dubai/bahrain because of Iranian "aggression" under trump 1.0/John Bolton, before trump completely abandoned being hard on Iran), and this ships company ordie (I recognized her from the ships store line) was in her swimsuit from the pool at the hotel bar, and holy god was she not a stereotypical ordie. I wish whomever she found that night, fair weather and following seas
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Our boss has always enjoyed going to places where most others haven’t been. Of course it’s quite possibly the worst time to go to Isreal in the last 50 years and he’s like “we may need to go to Isreal”
 
JordanD said:
That’s great to hear, I honestly figured everyone on LTD was pretty much kicked off in a situation like this.
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You wouldn’t be able to start a new claim- but LTD insurance is kind of group “pre-paid” and the liability falls on the uw. In reality when you go on long term the company stops paying you and stops paying into the plan for you. You become a liability of the insurance company.
 
TUCKnTRUCK said:
You wouldn’t be able to start a new claim- but LTD insurance is kind of group “pre-paid” and the liability falls on the uw. In reality when you go on long term the company stops paying you and stops paying into the plan for you. You become a liability of the insurance company.
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Interesting, I didn’t know if the plan became null and void if the company didn’t exist anymore, akin to what would happen with regular health insurance.
 
I think anyone that had 401k loans out…. I believe the 401k loan became due once the company shut down. If you can’t repay it in full, the unpaid balance is now constructively received as income and taxed as ordinary income and the 10% early distribution penalty applies if you are not 59-1/2.
 
woodreau said:
I think anyone that had 401k loans out…. I believe the 401k loan became due once the company shut down. If you can’t repay it in full, the unpaid balance is now constructively received as income and taxed as ordinary income and the 10% early distribution penalty applies if you are not 59-1/2.
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Damn, that’s a raw deal
 
skypilot6 said:
on the flip side, everyone is becoming fully vested in the 401k upon termination of the plan. And even former pilots that were not fully vested become fully vested if they left their money in the plan. Small silver lining for guys less than 6 years at Spirit.
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I was wondering about this, glad to hear guys aren't also losing a massive chunk of their retirement on top of all the other crap.
 
ClearedForOption said:
I've been at my shop for 15 years (as of next month or so) - this last year I've been displaced out of my home base for the 2nd time. They haven't made a profit since before the plague. My seniority has been going backwards for the past 2-3 years. I have 14 years left till mandatory retirement. (unless the LEPF folks get their way... then who knows what that's going to do all of our careers.)

It literally doesn't make financial sense for me to start over. If I was able to go back in time 10 years... then totally. With perfect 20/20 hindsight I'd have had apps out with everyone.

Using Spirit as my guide (or any of the other airlines that shut down over the last 25ish years...) at my seniority I shouldn't be furloughed until the lights are turned off. I'll be at top of scale till that happens. (Another lesson that we all just learned is that concessions don't save a carrier - the exec's take their millions and bonuses and those of us that drive the bus are left out in the rain.) Right now - starting over anywhere else - I'd have thousands of younger dudes senior to me. I'll literally be dead before many of them retire.

Mathematically, I'll be a CA (@TOS) till we shrink by 35% (or more) - then a FO till we shrink by over 65%. (and we all know that in the airlines - you have to grow) I'd have multiple training events, displacements, etc. while all of that happened. The financial break even point wouldn't be for years - not including all the retirement money lost. Sadly, that's the reality for most of us middle aged dudes that have put more than 10 years into a shop. None of us had this on our bingo cards for after we turned 50. It makes more mathematical sense to sock as much away now vs. having to start at year one.

So, I'm hoping for a transactional event. Any transactional event.

Which is something that I never thought I would be wishing for in my career. But it's the one thing that would give me the career stability for the last 1/3ish of my career. (and no matter who it is - I know I'll be able to get home after the dust settles after 3+ years or so - which is better than my current projection which is 6 years to never.)

My shop would fit like a perfect puzzle piece into just about every network. (And one legacy carrier could use it to "Castle" the others out of the N.E.)

I've already got my acquired, not hired sticker ready to go... just have to paste in the colors into photoshop.

So, yeah... I think that this is just the first of many bumps in the road.
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This right here is why I stayed until the wheels came off the operation. 15 years in, 12% seniority, and only 10 years remaining; the math wasn't mathing for me to simply walk away and leave it all behind. Doesn't matter where I go; I'm unlikely to crack 50%, let alone make it back to the top of the list. So figured I may as well stay on and make as much as I can until the doors close, and that's exactly what I did. Still working on "what's next" for me. Too young to retire (wish I could, but the bank account isn't where I need it to be, having gotten a late start in this game). Have some apps out and still more to submit. Life has been a blur since we shut down. The thought of being a new hire again isn't very palatable, but that's the hand I was dealt, so I guess, in the immortal words of David Coverdale: Here I go again on my own...
 
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