Originally Posted by shoelu

First off, working 12 days a month and earning $240,000 is not the average in my opinion, but it is certainly possible if you are senior enough to effectively manipulate your schedule. Here are some examples of trips from the PHX November bid package. They didn't copy and paste very well, but you can get an idea of what trips are available. I purposefully picked high value trips for this example. A 1 day, 2 day, 3 day, and a 4 day. We do not have trips over 4 days. The answer lies in efficient trip pairings, due in large part to our rigs. The minimum day is 6.5 TFP for every day of a trip, whether you had duty or not. Minimums- 1 day-6.5, 2 day-13.0, 3 day-19.5, 4 day-26.0. The vast majority of trips are 3 days.

Also, you have to remember that we do not have pref bid. So, there are many more chances to manipulate your schedule due to overlap between months, training and the best of all vacation. In December I have vacation and am working 6 days for a projected credit of more than 82 TFP of credit for 32 hours of block. I obviously chose to work as little as possible and therefore my credit suffered, but you can easily go the other direction and milk the credit with less time off. My vacation bid netted me 18 days off in a row and a total of 25 days off in December.

We also have extremely liberal rules regarding trip trading. ELITT (Electronic Line Improvement Trip Trade) is spectacular and allows more flexibility than most other airlines. Now to get into the nuts and bolts of how you can work only 12 days and make $240,000 is a little bit more involved. Many senior folks in both seats will purposefully bid lines that are easy to give away. They bid for mainly 1 and 2 day pairings and then drop them all in give away. They often come close to clearing their schedule and then pick up POT (Premium Open Time) at 1.5 times their pay rate. I know people who will not leave the house without 10 TFP per day, and they are able to do it consistently. On the other side of the spectrum many folks routinely work themselves to death earning 150 TFP a month and greater, but they certainly sacrifice days off to get there.

In short you can work as little or as much as you want to at SWA and are compensated accordingly.


PA6B SA PILOTS REPORT AT 8:40 EFFECTIVE Nov 05
DAY FLT EQP DEPARTS ARRIVES BLK BLK DUTY CR LAYOVER

SA 1552 700 PHX 0940 BNA 1300 3:20 4.00
SA 1611 700 BNA 1330 PHX 1720 3:50 4.50
7:10 9:10 8.50
Trip Credit 8.50 BLK HRS 7:10 No. LEGS 2 TAFB 9:10






PA17 TU WE TH PILOTS REPORT AT 7:35 EFFECTIVE Nov 01-Nov 03
DAY FLT EQP DEPARTS ARRIVES BLK BLK DUTY CR LAYOVER

1 3164 700 PHX 0835 SNA 1000 1:25 1.60
1 3164 700 SNA 1025 SJC 1145 1:20 1.50
1 139 700 SJC 1215 SAN 1335 1:20 1.50
1 139 700 SAN 1405 BNA 1755 3:50 4.80 BNA 11:45
7:55 10:50 9.40
REPORT AT 6:10
2 2522 700 BNA 0640 BWI 0820 AC 1:40 1.90
2 516 700 BWI 0950 SDF 1135 1:45 2.00
2 516 700 SDF 1205 PHX 1605 4:00 4.70
7:25 10:25 8.60
Trip Credit 18.00 BLK HRS 15:20 No. LEGS 7 TAFB 33:00





PA2T WE PILOTS REPORT AT 7:10 EFFECTIVE Nov 02
DAY FLT EQP DEPARTS ARRIVES BLK BLK DUTY CR LAYOVER

WE 985 700 PHX 0810 STL 1110 3:00 3.50
WE 225 700 STL 1140 LAX 1540 4:00 4.70 LAX 15:45
7:00 9:00 8.20
REPORT AT 7:55

TH 1965 700 LAX 0825 MDW 1225 AC 4:00 4.80
TH 388 300 MDW 1340 CMH 1440 1:00 1.10
TH 388 300 CMH 1515 BWI 1625 1:10 1.30
TH 2419 300 BWI 1700 IND 1850 1:50 2.10 IND 11:05

REPORT AT 6:25
FR 2418 700 IND 0655 PHX 1050 3:55 4.60
FR 2418 700 PHX 1125 LAS 1245 AC 1:20 1.50
FR 2276 700 LAS 1435 ONT 1535 1:00 1.10
FR 2450 700 ONT 1605 PHX 1715 1:11.30
7:25 11:20 8.50
Trip Credit 26.00 BLK HRS 22:25 No. LEGS 10 TAFB 58:35







PA37 WE PILOTS REPORT AT 7:10 EFFECTIVE Nov 02
DAY FLT EQP DEPARTS ARRIVES BLK BLK DUTY CR LAYOVER
WE 3423 300 PHX 0810 AUS 1030 2:20 2.70
WE 2144 300 AUS 1055 PHX 1325 AC 2:30 2.90
WE 602 300 PHX 1435 LAS 1545 1:10 1.30
WE 602 300 LAS 1620 SFO 1755 1:35 1.80 SFO 13:05
7:35 11:15 8.70
REPORT AT 7:30
TH 1383 700 SFO 0800 LAX 0920 1:20 1.50
TH 1383 700 LAX 0955 SAT 1245 2:50 3.40
TH 1383 700 SAT 1315 TPA 1535 AC 2:20 2.80
TH 278 700 TPA 1625 PBI 1720 0:55 1.00 PBI12:45
7:25 10:20 8.70
REPORT AT 6:35
FR 1592 700 PBI 0705 BWI 0925 2:20 2.70
FR 1592 700 BWI 0955 MDW 1155 2:00 2.30
FR 1592 700 MDW 1225 AUS 1505 2:40 3.10
FR 1592 700 AUS 1535 HRL 1635 1:00 1.10 HRL13:55
8:00 10:30 9.20
REPORT AT 7:00
SA 1402 700 HRL 0730 HOU 0830 1:00 1.10
SA 1402 700 HOU 0900 DAL 1000 1:00 1.10
SA 1402 700 DAL 1025 TUL 1120 0:55 1.00
SA DH1402 700 TUL 1145 PHX 1425 0:00 3.10
2:55 7:55 6.30
Trip Credit 32.90 BLK HRS 25:55 No. LEGS 16 TAFB 79:45