Re: Spirit Airlines cancels all flights as pilots go on stri
The public sees $125/hr and freaks. In fact the CA pay at Spirit really isn't *too* bad, it's the F/O pay that is so low.
Salaries of public employees are coming down as salaries of government employees and their contractors (especially federal) go up.
The Captain pay at Spirit is absolutely horrendous.
Going to have to agree with Todd with a hearty YEAH THAT! here...
Looking at the APC scales, I have come up with the following salary figures for an A321 CA, year 2, vs year 15. I have used 12 bid periods (months), at guarantee - because that's all you can truly budget for as an incoming pay on a monthly basis.
Keep in mind that, while Spirit is a so-called "ULCC" or Ultra-Low-Cost-Carrier, they are a major airline, a la Southwest, Delta, United, etc. Different stage of the development game, sure, but if they're making mad profits, they're headed in the right direction.
Why is defining them as a "major" important. Well, first of all, seems like regionals are D-scale carriers right now, and majors are C-scale (another story, another time). So, you're ready to be a MAJOR airline pilot now, you've invested years of your life scraping by at shady outfits and being on the road for long hours away from your family.... you've finally hit the big-time.... the career carrier:
Your current salary at Pinnacle is
$57,600/year, as a 6th year pilot at the company holding a CA bid.
Immediately, you get into new hire class at Spirit, they start paying you guarantee for the seat that is vacant: A319FO
Your new salary is
$34,560/year.
So, you've been in aviation for over 10 years, 6 with a regional, and the rest of the 4+ learning to fly and teaching, you've got a family. You receive an immediate yearly pay HIT of
$23,040. Honey, don't worry, there will be a CA vacancy soon... there are a lot of senior folks retiring at age 60.... I mean 65 now!
Well, as luck would have it, you came to Spirit at the right time, CA's are retiring at 65 in droves and you've only had to survive for one year on the FO scale... you bid for, and are awarded pending successful upgrade training, a CA slot on the big iron. A321 baby!
At the completion of your CA training, you receive the first of many monthly checks with the CA pay attached... you will earn
$91,584 in your second year at the company.
Fifteen stable years later, you hit the apex of your career airline Spirit, and you proudly count your W2 at the end of that last pay increase and find that you earned
$131,328 that year.
Looking back at this IDEAL scenario for today's pilot, we do the math:
upon reaching his career airline, the hypothetical pilot lost $23,040 in yearly pay. Over the course of his Spirit career, he ends up achieving $39,744 in pay raises... That, my friends, is a net gain of
$16,704 over FIFTEEN years. Yes, $131k is better than $57k, but if you've invested your life, your health, and your family into a once-promising career.
Who in their right mind would get their career job and expect that over the course of said career their net gain in salary is less than $40,000, over 20+ years.
As an aside, my friend, a computer programmer, doubled his salary after 3 years, and is still short of $100k, but he's only 3 years in and with his skills, he'll never have to take a job for less than what he is making at the current point (caveat: economy turns to crapper).
Food for thought, those who think that airline pilot pay is too high.
Lower total salary could potentially be stomachable if you never made less than any years prior. Since that will never happen....
