Originally Posted by cloudsurf

I am between 10 and 15 % overall seniority - currently at AirTran - CA 737. I have been a captain for many years at AirTran. I lost approx. 30 % in seniority when placed on the combined list. I am being placed with SWA F/O's with DOH's approx. 2-3 years after my DOH. I did have total control of my quality of life. Any days I wanted to work, any cities, times, vacation, ... I was on track to make approx. 200 thousand in salary this year. In addition, the company writes a seperate check every month equal to 10.5 % of my monthly gross and it is sent to my 401 K. Also, we just started a 1 % company match to our personal 401k contributions.
Now I have 3 choices. 717 CA . 717 F/O. SWA 737 F/O. If I bid back to the 717 it is risky. SWA has stated they do not want the airplane. No one trust SWAPA or SWA right now because of what has happened thus far. They have told us they have no intention of following any of the agreements that were signed or verbally agreed to by all the parties. I don’t want to be on the plane and they fire us and get rid of the airplane. If I choose to stay on the 737 then I must bid to be a F/O. They will not let anyone come over as a Captain- period. I will have to start commuting to one of their bases. I will be given a chance to upgrade in 2015 if there are vacancies. This will place me as a very junior CA. All quality of life is now gone. Oh, and I take about a 20 DOLLAR PER HOUR PAY CUT. For some reason, everyone seems to think that SWA F/O's make more per hour than an AirTan Captain. In about 17 – 19 years I will be back to what I am currently on the AirTran Seniority list. Only 1 -3 years left at that point.
From the SWAPA bullet points:
For SW Pilots a certainty of “no harm” integrated seniority, An improvement of relative seniority, Increase in overall career earnings, significant and assured upgrade opportunities on the AirTran 737’s and maybe the 717’s.
SWAPA and SWA are pointing out to us AirTran pilots we gain the following: 1. A place on the Southwest Master Seniority list. 2. A clear and certain path to integrated operations (We already had signed documents and verbal agreements – how do we trust this again). 3. Our medical and dental will now be a little cheaper per month. 4. We get to participate in the profit sharing and they match 9.3 percent of our contribution. ( I was getting 10.5 of monthly gross without me contributing before and 1 % of matched contributions). 5. Coverage of the Southwest Pilot fatigue policy. 6. Significant career earnings after 2015, ( SWAPA says CA’s make around 240,000 per year). I was already making pretty close to that.
What do I think? I think one minute we were profitable, hiring and getting new aircraft deliveries. I had a great life. Southwest shows up giving us parties and talking about their culture. They send us literature on life as a Southwest pilot to our homes. They really want to focus on the money. They tell us how they don’t want a US AIR problem. They want to come to an agreement with us on how to integrate the seniority list. The use Delta and Northwest as a positive example. Mediation and Arbitration people are chosen along with dates. We show up and are hammered with threats of unemployment if we do not accept their offer.