For those of us that had choices as to where to go in the last few years, since everyone was hiring, SWA had that “never furloughed”, “always made a profit”, “employees first” stuff front and center. It definitely had an impact on where I chose to fly. Granted, many will say it’s a bad reason to choose a company to work for, and will instead pull out a spreadsheet with retirements, upgrade times, profit sharing charts, and such instead. But I think if SWA does furlough pilots, there may be some costs on the backside. Doesn’t matter if they’re choosing between survival and furlough.
Another thought. Isn’t furlough really cheap at SWA with the single fleet type, everyone can fly every plane anywhere? Training costs seem pretty low, compared to multi fleet airlines.
Just found this I wrote in 2017 as a soon to be hired “over-staffer”:
Psycho18th's Avatar Psycho18th , 05-05-2017 09:06 AM
What I see as deciding factors in choosing Southwest...
A company that has never laid off a pilot.
A company that hasn't negotiated a 50% pay cut to avoid bankruptcy, then declared bankruptcy shortly thereafter.
A company that has continuously been profitable.
A company with a large pilot base in the city I live.
A company with the same stated values/goals throughout it's existence, that also seem to keep it profitable..
That continuity and security in such a fickle industry are huge factors to me, when I look at the place I want to work the next 25 years. Take a look at the last 25 years at all the legacies...B-Scale, layoffs, retirement wipeouts, multiple bankruptcies, strikes, new mission statement and logo every 6 months, new CEO/savior every 6 months. Could all of that happen at Southwest? Sure. But when playing the long term odds, the grass seems pretty darn green in SWA-land.