Brigri

Well the pilots at Spirit did it, they went on strike and as of this morning all of the airlines flights are cancelled. I find this truly unbelievable, that in this economy they actually walked out, which leaves the airline in a truly tough position. If this lasts a while there may be no more Spirit. Jetblue has many routes that overlap and I am sure will pick up extra business because of it. The FLL hub may be the most affected, I just wonder why a 30% increase is not enough to bring the pilot group back to the job, were they really that underpaid?

Crazy times!

sfozrhfco

It is not unbelievable at all. Wages in the US airline industry have largely stagnated or gone down in the last decade. Pilots at Spirit get paid far less than the network carriers and lower than the LCC carriers as well. Spirit has been making money and there is no reason they can't make their employee's wages comparable to other LCC's. jetBlue was not making all that much money and gave their pilots a raise when the economy was far worse last year. Keeping your work force satisfied with fair wages is a key component to making money in the airline industry--just ask Southwest.


As Spirit has no agreements with other carriers in place to accept their tickets, the pilots have a lot of leverage as they have completely shut the airline down for today and their passengers have to pay walk up fares on other airlines if they want to fly.

This will help jetBlue only in that they are getting many more last minute bookings at high fares for available seats to/from FLL and may get some people who are frustrated by Spirit and will avoid them in the near future.

JetBlueFA

So far, as far as I know, no effect really felt yet. The company sent out a notice saying that we will NOT be accepting Spirit's tickets for travel. Customers will have to book and pay for a new reservation in order to fly on us.

bmg42000

Perhaps they will offer special fares for those who are diSpirited . If they can get a few more passengers on the FLL-JFK/LGA flights it will help there bottom line. (Todays fares for FLL-NYC on B6 seem to be mostly sold out although they do have some $273 flights with a change of plane in IAD .

JetBlueFA

Per another update. We aren't doing anything out of the ordinary to help out. Florida-NYC loads are already high this weekend and only have a few open seats to sell. We compete on 9 routes with Spirit and are monitoring our loads and may add extra sessions starting Monday should the strike last that long and our loads warrant it.

N830MH

Obviously, I think B6, DL will have to bring more extra sections out of FLL-NYC. Because it was always overbooked flight for everyday. Perhaps, DL, B6 will have beef it up more flights. Because NK is already on strike for a little bit longer. I am not sure whether if they will have ready to be in negotiations contract deal and if they are already have a new agreements from NK pilots. So unfortunately, its has nothing can do it for NK pilots is still on strike.

Dieuwer

The pilots want a 30% wage hike??!

bmg42000

That would bring up their pay to that of B6 and Airtran pilots .

N830MH

If they are raising the salary is more than $100 hrs. It was way too poorly from NK management doesn't have a chance to raising the salary. If there is enough financial will be save the airlines instead of the pilots won't laid off from the jobs.

Dieuwer

If NK pilots are sooooo unhappy, perhaps they should quit and work for B6 instead

N830MH

Right. If NK will eventually to shutdown and it will cease operations due to chapter 11 bankruptcy. B6 will acquiring from NK former routes out of FLL and it will moved up more flight to be added from FLL-SXM/AUA/STT/SJU/PUJ/GCM/PAP and etc. Obviously, B6 will have takeover by replaceable of NK. Spirit doesn't have a choice for this time.

Seat13c

I highly doubt we'll see a full B6 take over of NK. Should NK go under (which is still not likely at this point), B6 would only consider the three A320's that NK owns right, which all would need retrofitting for B6's liveTV system, and maybe one or two of their destinations. But that's it.

Keep in mind that NK has been more profitable recently than B6. Granted, the lower labor costs may be a big factor in that, but they are profitable.
I totally agree. When positions open up at B6, WN, CO, DL, or where ever, what's stopping them?

sbm12

Well, CO and WN fly different aircraft so those pilots wouldn't necessarily be qualified. B6 and DL have Airbii that the pilots could head over to but they start at the bottom of the seniority list so they're taking a pay cut - often significant - to make the leap. The system is one that was structured by both management and the pilots. They cannot reasonably blame the other for the structure of the employment contracts. They can fight over the numbers and benefits but the structure is what they agreed upon and jumping between carriers is a very hard move to make.

sfozrhfco

It is not the structure of the original contract that is to blame, it is the fact that many work groups at many US airlines have to spend 3+ years after the contract has expired to work out a new one. Thus what is negotiated today ends up being the rules and wages one lives by for the next 10+ years. This is why management and labor at many airlines do not trust each other. Who wants to sign a contract that fixes everything for a decade (as an employee)? We could have 20% inflation 5 years from now which would instantly mean a pay decrease that is locked in until a new contract can be negotiated 5 years from that point.

Spirit is just the tip of the iceberg. Many of the legacy carriers will be in the same position. Employees lost their pensions and up to half of their salaries during the bankruptcies, oil price rise, aftermath of 9/11. The endless downward spiral of wages can not continue forever. The current airline structure in the US has failed miserably as a profit generating business. It remains to be seen which airlines can pay a livable wage, offer the services and frequencies that passengers want, and still make a profit. It may mean we have less airlines and higher fares in the future which is not necessarily a bad thing.

3Cforme

There's no reason for the government to regulate wages by industry - there is a broad (if not generous) minimum in place.

If airlines can't find pilots in sufficient numbers they will raise wages (or argue for more H-1B visas, the popular move in many tech fields). The Airbus assets could be redeployed by lessors in a week, all repainted within a month, and Spirit Airlines quite forgotten by the general public in three months - elements that should not be ignored by negotiators on either side.