Originally Posted by
ewrbasedpilot
Okay, from an AF pilot to a "jarhead"
here goes:
We are different (different mentality) in that the majority of our pilots are looking for more than an entire career of up/down/up/down/up/down/up/down flying our entire career. We enjoy the fact that we can move up to bigger equipment, foreign destinations, and in essence "see the world", rather than just the USA. We enjoy not having the "hurry up to the runway or gate (you know....the 35 knot groundspeed taxiing we see every day)" and "cattle car" mentality. Concerning your "decent product at a decent price": sure our pax pay more, but they get something to eat rather than a snack tossed at them, and can fly from EWR to LAX or SEA in ONE hop without stopping to collect their luggage three times and having it take 13 hours. They also have a choice of seats, first or coach, and usually a movie or two to watch. It costs a whole lot more to operate a B777 out of EWR too, hence we HAVE to charge a bit more to break even. And first class seats take up a LOT of room, so prices are set accordingly. I too have seen passengers drive for two hours, pay $20 a day for parking, and think they're getting a "good deal" because they saved $20 by flying on SWA. Good for them......... But even Wall Street is saying the party is coming to an end for SWA. Seems oil can't be hedged at $25 a bbl anymore, even by someone as good as SWA was at it. Welcome to OUR party.
Yeah you know us Marines we are a little slow!
We will obviously have to disagree on some issues we have tossed back and forth in the last few days. Fact is we both (and all pilots) have to justify our career decisions based on the type of flying we do. I am perfectly happy with my decision and justify in my mind that I like the ups and downs (just don't exaggerate). I will admit that I was a little jealous when I visited Europe and Russia a few years ago but nothing beats Amarillo.
I would appreciate it if you would not engage in misinformation about our flight ops. I personally get no more than an average of three legs a day and usually with more block time and a shorter duty day than my friends at other airlines. It is called productivity. Just like CAL is not the same airline it was in the 70's and 80's, neither is SWA. Unless you have a radar gun please don't inflate our taxi speeds. FOM says no faster than 30 kts on a taxiway. If you have your radar gun handy please give our CP a call with the flight number. Also my wife would agree with your cattle call comment but if done right it sure is faster than the alternative. The new changes to our boarding process announced today might help things a bit. However your description of what our passengers have to do to get coast to coast is pretty funny (and wrong). I personally also like to work our non stops from PHL-LAX, PHL-PHX, PVD-PHX, MHT-LAS, BWI-PHX, BWI-LAX, etc. with another hop thrown in just for fun. So quit mischaracterizing our flght ops and how our passengers have "so" much to endure. Nice urban legends you are tossing around but reality is different.