Lots going on in this thread.
The manning pinch that the FOs are in right now is temporary, but the solution is going to take a while. SWA doesn’t staff for the peaks. If they intended to keep manning at this level, they would have been upgrading to match the hiring, but that hasn’t happened. Despite what most captains will tell you, they are still getting plenty of premium open time during the busy periods and weekends. Pull an open time awards report for this weekend if you don’t believe me. Paying a bunch of captains time and a half when they could upgrade a couple hundred FOs and thin the reserve ranks of guys sitting and getting paid makes no sense, but there you have it. We are hiring for something. Getting pilots on board is a long term proposition that requires months of recruiting and training. They will continue to stack bodies on the FO side until they pull the trigger on Hawaii and LAX.
There is a push out west for manning in January that coincides with a seasonal shift. When LAX opens in March or whenever they get around to it, it will begin to displace guys from west coast bases and open up a lot of movement in both seats. I certainly hope the advertised 400/500 upgrades does a little to right size the lump in the snake that we have in FO manning right now, but I am not holding my breath. Sounds like hiring is continuing unabated, so we will more than likely replace those 400 FOs with around 300 new hires prior to June, which really doesn’t do much for the open time situation. Seniority is great...when you can use it for something.
As was mentioned above, half the threads on APC are guys measuring their cranks about how great their airline is...for them. A big buffet of QOL, pay, and different flying is a wonderful thing to complain about. SWA is what it is, and coming here thinking it will change is like staying with an abusive spouse. I have a great QOL, some money making flexibility and opportunity still despite the lack of open time in the right seat, and some great work rules.
I don’t mind the occasional JA on my day off and even want them at times since I commute and my kids are older. What I do miss about them is the opportunity that they provide by creating extra flying in the system that is paid at a premium. I would love to see a better way to VOLUNTARILY pick up that flying at double time and some better language for paying double rigs.
Upgrade time is important to some and I get that. It will trend down here soon...it’s just math. With dark skies ahead in the economy, though, it may be a bad time to count on those upgrades being there.