Getting Spirit Pilots Home

[ClearedForOption]

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.

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.

 

[///AMG]

I mean you know a lot more than me, but if history is a judge, I dont think there is any carrier that is too big to fail. It’ll happen again to a “big 3” (or someone else)