I’m a little late to the party on this one but I’m going to offer a nuanced perspective. I’m a ULCC pilot who was originally headed for the legacies until I landed at Frontier. Now, I have no desire to move on. This is a story repeated by many a Frontier pilot and I suspect the same is true at Spirit. All things being equal, I would probably end up on a par or maybe even behind at retirement if I left now for a legacy from a financial standpoint. From a quality of life standpoint, I would definitely be behind, which is the deciding factor for me.
Categories can be interesting beasts because there is really no singular definition of “legacy” or “major” or “national” or even “regional,” from a pilot perspective anyway.
The only thing which is a constant in the airline industry is that everything is always changing and sometimes quite dramatically in a short period of time as we’ve all seen just this last year. Pilots who went to airlines that were the place to be in the day have found themselves out of jobs when their airlines went under. Others who went to the “new startup” airline found themselves making out much better than they would have been at a legacy airline. No one has a crystal ball.
That all being said, there can be quite a bit of disparity between pilot jobs at the ULCCs, so it’s really tough to lump all ULCCs in the same category from a pilot job perspective, even if they have similar business models. On the whole ULCCs have lower pay rates than the legacies (roughly 15% for Frontier for the same aircraft type at a legacy). Work rules that translate into quality of life I’ve learned depends a lot on what base/seat/equipment and level of seniority. At least for Spirit/Frontier, our work rules are pretty decent and in many ways can produce an equivalent quality of life to those of a legacy carrier. The same may not be true of Avelo (too new to say), or some of the other ULCCs.
One of the big differences (for the time being) is the non-existence of widebody aircraft at the ULCCs. Large, international networks with a large number of destinations being another one. For some the draw of widebody aircraft and exotic destinations may be strong, for others not as much. From what I’ve heard/read in my conversation with other pilots over the years, it would seem that for most pilots the lure of big metal fades over time.
Minimum requirements to get a job at a legacy are generally higher because there is greater competition for those jobs due to their reputation of being the “top job” to go for. That being said, just because the minimums are higher doesn’t necessarily make it easier to get a job at the ULCC level. ULCCs can be picky too. While it may seem easier for some to get an interview at Frontier due to the lack of a degree requirement, we’ve traditionally hired a significantly lower percentage of those we interview compared to the legacies.
What it all boils down to at the end of the day is what are you looking for? Everyone would agree seniority is pretty much king in this industry. The faster you gain seniority, the faster your quality of life and pay go up. If you’re in your late 40s then the time you have to reach the upper ranges of seniority is significantly more limited than a guy in his 30s. A stable, growing ULCC may very well offer that progression faster than a legacy. Then again, we may not have a crew base in your hometown or anywhere near close, so that may be a consideration if it’s important to you. It’s all dependent on your priorities.
I hesitate to endorse the “Allegiant model” moniker because the true Allegiant model is quite different to our business model. The truth of the matter is that we’ve had a large percentage of 1-2 day trips ever since COVID hit. 3-4 day trips have crept back in over time but there is a renewed push towards 1 day trips and multiplication of bases to support that model. The concept communicated by senior management is we are moving more towards a Ryanair setup.