If spirit matches allegiant/frontier they will be taking a pay cut. Contract is 5 years old. Matching allegiant is barely a cost of living raise. Spirit is larger than both allegiant and frontier no reason they should be getting their pay. And at the top of scale they would be getting a less than 5 percent raise.
Spirit Hiring
- Thread starter 757Geek
- Start date
There's a reason 70 to 80 percent of the dispatchers at spirit have been there under 2 years, you live in poverty until that 3rd year and the young dispatchers aren't gonna wait that long to be paid appropriately esp when so many of the flights you work are going in and out of Florida which is always caked in BS
Until this hiring frenzy ends at the majors, no reason to suffer low pay if you can get yourself on a major.
Just hoping spirit appreciates their dispatchers by giving them a fair contract
Until this hiring frenzy ends at the majors, no reason to suffer low pay if you can get yourself on a major.
Just hoping spirit appreciates their dispatchers by giving them a fair contract
Has it really gotten that junior there?
70-80% under 2 years would be insane. My old regional airline is more senior than that.
From the US BLS, the CPI from 2018 to 2023 has risen 21%.
Based off the top out from the previous contract of $64 in 2018, adjusting for cost of living only would bring them to $77.49.
Anything less than that would be a defacto pay cut.
$80 top out would be a pretty weak "raise" but I would think that would be the bare minimum to even be considered, especially with the cost of living in south Florida.
Yea the majority of the dispatchers there are under 2 years. The majority of OJT trainers and ground school trainers are also very junior as well
iono
Well-Known Member
it's actually closer to 50% being less than two years, but that's still higher than it should be. their new contract will be good, but will the company actually sit down with the union and negotiate in a timely manner or will they drag their feet? i won't be around to find out
Deadhead122
Well-Known Member
Anyone else got an offer from here? Curious who’s going to be part of my class on 07/10.
Congrats!
Dispatch manager will ask in an email if you want your contact shared between your class based on whether you chose Orlando or Miramar
Deadhead122
Well-Known Member
Oh alright that’s a great idea!
Goldilocks
Well-Known Member
I'm a former Spirit dispatcher who has departed for greener pastures. I'm one of the few who left even while having good seniority. Just to give a glimpse into what's actually happening there - moral is at an all time low I'd say with the group. There's no respect for the contract from management and that's why in my opinion there will not be a new one prior to the JetBlue merger, if that succeeds. I think there's rumor of pay increases at the very least because you can't live in South Florida on first or second year pay. It's getting close in MCO but you can wander further out to get a decent apartment.
There's really no consideration by the company anymore that they are dealing with real people. When Spirit announced their new office in Dania Beach, we were led to believe that's where we would be. We then lived on a 6 month rollercoaster of rumors before they finally told us the OCC would be moving to BNA. Keep in mind, this was strictly being done to move the OCC out of South Florida to eliminate the need for a hurricane go team where we would go to DTW and get paid overtime to work. Then covid hit. Eventually BNA was scrapped and yet again we were on a months long rollercoaster ride of what was going to happen. We were then told there would be a split OCC with MCO, to which the company and the union were unsuccessful in coming up with a moving package. The company (represented by one person) walked away from the negotiating table after we voted down the first agreement. They are currently trampling on the contract with no end in sight which is why I don't believe a new contract will ever come to be. To add on that, they sat and fought the dispatch group for probably over a year on the MCO moving package. Meanwhile, the F9 deal is coming down the pipeline and was announced just as dispatchers finally started moving to MCO, basically extended the years long uncertainty of where people would be based.
For those getting hired there, congratulations. The work group itself, probably top half of the seniority list, are amazing people and it's the one things I miss most about Spirit. Just as a word of warning - if you're going in with no experience, Spirit's initial training program is extremely fast paced and geared towards dispatchers with previous experience. This is not to say it's impossible because there are plenty of internal hires who came in with no experience and made it through but just wanted to give that heads up.
There's really no consideration by the company anymore that they are dealing with real people. When Spirit announced their new office in Dania Beach, we were led to believe that's where we would be. We then lived on a 6 month rollercoaster of rumors before they finally told us the OCC would be moving to BNA. Keep in mind, this was strictly being done to move the OCC out of South Florida to eliminate the need for a hurricane go team where we would go to DTW and get paid overtime to work. Then covid hit. Eventually BNA was scrapped and yet again we were on a months long rollercoaster ride of what was going to happen. We were then told there would be a split OCC with MCO, to which the company and the union were unsuccessful in coming up with a moving package. The company (represented by one person) walked away from the negotiating table after we voted down the first agreement. They are currently trampling on the contract with no end in sight which is why I don't believe a new contract will ever come to be. To add on that, they sat and fought the dispatch group for probably over a year on the MCO moving package. Meanwhile, the F9 deal is coming down the pipeline and was announced just as dispatchers finally started moving to MCO, basically extended the years long uncertainty of where people would be based.
For those getting hired there, congratulations. The work group itself, probably top half of the seniority list, are amazing people and it's the one things I miss most about Spirit. Just as a word of warning - if you're going in with no experience, Spirit's initial training program is extremely fast paced and geared towards dispatchers with previous experience. This is not to say it's impossible because there are plenty of internal hires who came in with no experience and made it through but just wanted to give that heads up.
LaCorderaVoladora
Well-Known Member
Heard that Frontier negotiations are now fighting for no less than Allegiant’s new pay. Looks like Allegiant set a new bar. Hopefully Spirit PAFCA / Dxers will do the same.
jetsguy737
Well-Known Member
Really can't get much more in depth than this. All we can hope is if the merger with B6 is successful, stronger parties will form. Trial begins in BOS in October for B6 vs Feds
BigGuy4U
Well-Known Member
It's pretty much all but agreed upon in the office with Allegiant's new TA that anything less than $40/hour starting is insulting at this point. Both the union and management are aware of this though and the speed at which the contract is signed will depend on hashing out the details which is where negotiations will get bogged down.
Personally, I am hoping for a 2 year TA just to get a new pay scale settled with full negotiations resuming afterwards pending the merger. This has the immediate benefit of bolstering livability in South Florida while retaining talent and waiting to see what happens with the JetBlue merger, at which point a new contract/voting out of the union will have to take place anyway (since B6 Dx'ers are non-union). In my opinion, there's no sense spending years bogged down negotiating a full contract only to have to REnegotiate with a new company in two years anyway.
iono
Well-Known Member
this makes the most sense, but the union doesn't seem interested in doing this
Spirit needs to pay more at least before negotiating other aspects of the contract
Simply just waiting until the merger happening is just gonna peeve current dispatchers and turn away prospective candidates
They're not paying that much more than the regionals and the COL in either OCC is ridiculous to say the least for the current pay
When regional dispatchers can simply go to a major from their regional airline, there's no point making that move for a few more dollars
Good luck if you're coming onto spirit with just a license, training goes by fast and is definitely catered to those with previous experience
Simply just waiting until the merger happening is just gonna peeve current dispatchers and turn away prospective candidates
They're not paying that much more than the regionals and the COL in either OCC is ridiculous to say the least for the current pay
When regional dispatchers can simply go to a major from their regional airline, there's no point making that move for a few more dollars
Good luck if you're coming onto spirit with just a license, training goes by fast and is definitely catered to those with previous experience
Shock-Diamonds
Well-Known Member
Seems smarter for Spirit to put together a quick TA and just adopt JetBlue’s new scale after it’s confirmed in October. Not a lot of sense all the wasted time and money if it’s short term, and it would mean quick money. HOWEVER, you should appreciate the position you are in. Just imagine if Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant, etc. signed new contracts a year ago like Alaska did. Their contract is a year old and they’re already underpaid (for their product).
Starting pay, maybe. The rest, no way.
Top out on Spirit’s 2018 contract is $64/hr. Top out on Allegiant’s new contract is $67.
If they fight for a $3 hourly raise (enormous paycut adjusting for inflation from 2018) then I would hope everyone there would have apps in elsewhere. Only JetBlue could save them at that point.
LaCorderaVoladora
Well-Known Member
They really should go no less than the $80k to start which divided by 1825 hours at Spirit makes nearly $44/hr. Round that to a cool $45/hr. Which makes $82k a year to start. That’s about $30k more than current I believe, so ideally add $30k to the current top out and maybe some longevity pay and you’ll get top out close to $146.8k give or take. I could be quoting wrong, but I thought I saw somewhere that Allegiant’s top out is $140k now? More hours there. It might be a long shot but a good goal to start. Maybe aim for a higher license pay per check too (if they keep the union).
That wouldn’t look too bad for FL now…
This seems like a pretty good and realistic scale.
Dxwiz
Well-Known Member
That’s correct, top out is around $68 now.
