Originally Posted by
FastNeatAvg
Time after time the industry has been rocked with something that sets movement back or kills progress from the airlines POV.
It is coming, we don’t know when or what, but it’ll come.
I’m 30, and in my career I’ll experience 1-3 events (I imagine).
It is easy to become sighted on the massive hiring, retirements, shiny metal- etc.
My two options being DFW- AAL/SWA.
Pro
AAL- massive movement, big planes (eventually)
SWA- 3 on 4 off, high block, taxi fast yelling Yeehaw.
Cons:
AAL- lack of new hire contract possibly limits their ability against DAL/UAL, stigma v other 2
SWA- 737, 10ish year upgrade (works with my 2 kids timeline to college- so may not be a bad thing QOL wise)
When the music stops and it will- just when, better place to be? Stability speaking. There are a lot of ways to put this answer.
As for other scenarios with a SWA/legacy X base I hope this can shed SOME insight for others.
I appreciate the insight.
This whole 737 bashing has gotten kinda popular on APC and it seems to be mostly millennials... Personally, I couldn't give two sh*ts what type of airplane I'm flying for living.
I do, however, care about
:
- the size of my paycheck and all that it entails - retirement contributions, profit sharing, career pay, etc.
- the ratio of time spent at work getting that paycheck vs. enjoying my time off at home doing stuff I really like doing.
- stability of the airline given that I already went through the character-building of losing a career airline gig because of egos and incompetence that drove the airline into the ground. Not interested in repeating the same thing again.
Some of koolies here will point to Southwest as being the obvious choice. Not so fast amigos.
While it's true I've been making a really good coin at Southwest, I worked my a$$ off for it and the ratio of time spent at work vs. enjoying time off at home doing stuff I like doing has been grossly out of balance. If the upgrade time was 8-10 years everywhere else, I'd say Southwest hands down because you can find your balance but still make the coin. Given that one can upgrade that much sooner at every other legacy, you are far better off at a legacy because the math just doesn't work otherwise unless Southwest pilot group gets the pay raise that's north of 50-60%. Over the course of one's career, that difference is easily translated well into 7 figures at the end of the road.
One thing I will caution every prospective pilot here.
DO NOT buy into the whole CULTure narrative. What you've read in "Nuts!" has long been killed off, run over by a truck about a dozen times, set ablaze about half dozen times, buried, stomped over at least two dozen times, filled with more dirt, then run over with a bulldozer, flattened again and then cemented. Anyone who's been around this industry longer than a few years will tell you that any successful airline is literally one bad CEO and one bad management team away from its demise. As much as it pains me to say it, I think Southwest is there now. I have lost any and all faith in our management and our BOD. As someone on the cusp of upgrade, I'm seriously considering leaving. And I'm not the only one. This management team only cares about the current stock price. They seem like they couldn't care less about the long-term health and viability of Southwest Airlines...
Just my 0.02 cents....