Originally Posted by Herkflyr

Sailing,

Your analysis is outstanding, but there is one area where I believe SWA has always had us beat, and that is in the area of guaranteed pay per day. Let's face it, most pilots want to work when we show up to work, not dawdle and get min guarantee. To summarize:

SWA guys get paid by the "trip" with is roughly a unit of distance equal to 53 minutes, or 1 trip = 1.13 hours.

SWA captains get roughly the same hourly pay per "trip" as a DAL 767 captain does per hour!

So, sort of equating the two pay rates, now consider....


The reserve guarantee at SWA is 90 (!) trips a month.

The minimum pay per day is 6.5 trips (at DAL 767 pay rates). Every one day pays at least 6.5 trips (or TFP, Trips For Pay), every two day is worth 13, every three-day 19.5, etc.

A MDW-LAS-MDW turn was profiled in one of their publications. It blocked at 7.55, which would make it a very senior turn at most airlines, including DAL. It paid 9.3 trips! (at DAL 767 rates).

I would like to see us emulate such. We are getting there, but have a ways to go.