Spirit Airlines Pilots Go on Strike

Sanya · Jun 12, 2010

Pilots for Spirit Airlines walked off the job this morning after failing to reach terms on a new contract.

All of today's flights for the airline, which flies out of LaGuardia and Atlantic City airports, are cancelled due to the strike -- the first at a U.S. passenger airline in nearly five years. Pilots planned to picket outside the airline at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Both sides continued talking through the night past their 12:01 a.m. strike deadline. The pilots' union wants Spirits pilots to be paid as much as their counterparts at JetBlue and Airtran.

Pilots rejected a 30 percent pay increase over five years and a $3,000 signing bonus per pilot for a total cost of $70 million to the airline. The package offered by Spirit would have also allowed them to retain a four-day off break between each trip. The 53,000 member union -- Air Line Pilots Association -- is entirely behind the roughly 500 Spirit pilots on strike.

Spirit executives were disheartened by pilots' decision to reject the pay package.

"We are frustrated and disappointed that our pilots have turned down an over 30 percent increase at a cost of over $70 million over five years while disrupting thousands of our customers and jeopardizing the livelihoods of our over 2,000 employees," Spirit Airlines President and CEO Ben Baldanza said in a statement.

It wasn't immediately clear if Spirit had a contingency plan. A pilot who wished to remain anonymous told NBCNewYork that no one wanted to strike because of the financial implications, but felt there was no other way.

In the meantime, a substantial strike fund exists to help the pilots out during the strike.

The discount airline carries about 1 percent of U.S. passenger air traffic, according to The Wall Street Journal. A Spirit employee told NBCNewYork the airline tried to reach all of the passengers with scheduled flights today, but some didn't get the word in time, which sent people scrambling. Spirit flies about 12 flights a day from LaGuardia.

For customers with cancelled flights, Spirit is processing a credit for the full amount of the flight as well as providing a $100 future flight credit. Anyone who made their reservation prior to May 11 directly with Spirit and purchased travel insurance should call Travel Guard at 866-877-3191 if their flight has been cancelled.
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http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Spirit-Airlines-Pilots-Go-on-Strike-96210544.html

Just a heads up to anyone flying Spirit Airlines anytime soon, you may want to check up on this. Sucks too since I was about to buy tickets from them for August... hopefully it's resolved by then.

Sara · Jun 13, 2010

I remember the last time this happened. *sorry if off-topic* All the airline pilots, attendants, baggage handlers, mechanics, you name it... Called in sick the day after Christmas for at least five days, if I remember correctly.

Every airport was practically shut down during one of the most hellish traveling days of the year. It really upset a lot of people and threw everyone into a tailspin. Everyone who was taking a flight in the U.S. was stranded. Anyway... They had a reason to go on a sick leave if you will. They accepted massive cuts and no bonuses to help a drowning airline industry. In the same year, the execs of the industry got millions in bonuses.

Note: This was a few years after 9/11 when there was massive problems in the industry.

In any case, right now the pilots are massively overworked and underpaid. I don't fully blame them for going on strike.

Patsy Stone · Jun 17, 2010

Wait, they rejected a THIRTY PERCENT PAY INCREASE?! As well as a signup bonus? Are they mad? Or just greedy losers?

Bloody unions.

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Spirit Airlines Pilots Go on Strike

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