^^^^^^
Spot on. Upgrade is a HUGE issue facing SW that unfortunately is out of anyone's hands. By comparison, FedEx, UPS and the majors are seeing upgrades ranging from 4 months to 2 years. Tough predicament for sure.
You would think this would cause the highly proactive and engaged leadership of SW (sarcasm) to get in front of this and make themselves more attractive. Nope. 4 years of fighting the pilots at every step and low balling at the negotiating table have eroded the only thing SW had going for it: mojo.
I'm told the new T/A will likely pass because pilots are war-weary and tired, but they're not happy and what's being offered is hardly competitive. On the hiring front, who in their right mind would choose SW over other alternatives? Red-eyes, stale 'LUV' culture, long hours with multiple legs, archaic and abusive reserve policies, starting too early (2am body clock), ending too late (most PMs end around or after midnight) , crappy/loud hotels, lack of competitive long term disability, new code share
horrible training (no type= up to 25% career impacting event failures) and pay/overtime (premium??) that falls well short of other majors, and you have a ship that sailed. An apples to apples comparison might align 737 pay to majors (for today), but it negates the income opportunities in WB aircraft and much quicker upgrades.
Gone are the days when SW could arrogantly demand pilots pay $8K for their own training. You'd think the fact that SWA can no longer require a type rating would have been their wake up call. They are now seen as a lower tier choice and junior FOs are leaving in record numbers. Who would have thunk the day would come when SW was losing potential candidates to bottom-feeder ULCC's like Allegiant whose new pay scale is competitive, they're home every night, with quick upgrades, ample growth, and modern equipment.
If SW management expects to attract and keep pilots, it needs to drop its folksy, outdated and tired LUV approach and get serious about it's benefits package and compensation (especially FO years 1-6). From what I'm hearing, those are the year groups most vulnerable to attrition. Matters will likely get worse as hiring at majors accelerates due to retirements. If the trend continues, the hiring might not keep up with attrition.