The April first date of my “reply” was a coincidence but the reply WAS meant to be a satirical representation of what, I imagine, many of us might like to say when getting the TBNT letter (which was real as many of you who got one, know). That said, however, the response wasn't actually sent. I never burn bridges in this industry and sending it would have been pointless anyway. Whatever the computer matrix that SWA uses, they must have a peculiar definition of "qualified".

The other point I was making was that, from an industry wide point of view, the merger of AirTran and Southwest was a remarkable turn in a very dark direction. Personally, I would have a difficult time looking an AirTran pilot in the eye if I were a SWA pilot. But maybe that’s just me.

And, even if we just forget all about the SWA fun/luv camaraderie culture stuff, If SWA is trying to enhance safety in their cockpits, this may have been a huge step backwards. I can easily imagine an AirTran FO being so upset about their treatment that they forget to point out to the SWA captain that the captain forgot to sign the release or overlooked a below mins weather report or left the logbook on the ground or are about to push with the ground power plugged in or are about to put a wingtip into the tail of another plane or, or, or …

With so many mergers providing horrible examples out there, it is amazing that this one has set a new low. It’s sad to see and it has done the industry no good.

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