Based on his post history he will be going to AA or SWA.

 

Biggest mistake of your life

 

I was truly impressed by everything I heard yesterday. A lot of it really resonated with me. I don't yet have the luxury of making a choice ( my interviews with SWA and AA are in the next few weeks) but I must say, I walked out of the Hub with a very positive feeling about Alaska.

I won't assume that I'll get offers elsewhere, so I'm not gonna worry about the pros and cons of each airline just yet... But I will say that every Alaska line pilot I've ever met, including of course my friends who are on property now, have been great people.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the interview but I came away very impressed. Everyone was so kind and welcoming, and went to great lengths to make us feel comfortable. One of the CPs (Director of Flight Ops maybe?) did an intro that had all of us laughing and nodding on agreement. I gotta say, Alaska seems like a pretty darn good shop to be at.

 

interviews these days are fog a mirror tests. You will most likely have a choice soon. Go to where-ever has a base where you live. If that happens to be an Alaska base, it’s a good place to work.

 

I'm always willing to be educated. If you had the choice between let's say SWA and Alaska and AA, for example... Where would you go and why? Let's remove commuting as a consideration...

 

based off your post history you either got rejected or never got the call. How would you know ? 😂

 

Glad you had a good experience! Your intuition is spot on and you’ll enjoy working here just as much. Don’t listen to the few disgruntled here, as I can guarantee they would be miserable everywhere. Alaska is a great place to be, Welcome aboard.

 

Depends on how old you are?

Younger I'd say AA for sure, with all of it's warts it has widebodies and mass retirements.

Older, it's a tougher call since you won't be a WB CA. If WB lifestyle appeals to you, then that's a factor since you can do WB FO. Lots of schedule options at AA. At AS you do have the option of shorter North/South legs in one or two time zones and some folks like that.

SWA is hard to say right now. In times past I would have put them before AS on the assumption that they'll soon get a contract but their historically good company culture seems well and truly broken. So uncertainty there and the limited schedule options would honestly have me choosing AS today. SW contract sucks and their management is doubling down on digging in their heels. They call themselves "plumbers" now because their CEO refers to them as "glorified plumbers"... even AA and AS management haven't quite achieved that level of toxicity.

I would have hands-down chosen SWA when I got hired back in the day (I actually had the choice) but it came down to driving to work. As it turns out I made a better decision then I knew at the time.

If you're older I'd still honestly chose based on living in domicile. If you're 100% flexible to move, then consider junior bases and where you'd really ENJOY living. Dallas, SFO, PDX, ANC are all very different. If you're in SOCAL you can work for almost any major.

 

If you go to AA you’ll pass FreqFlyer on seniority despite being hired two years later.

 

I’d at least give some consideration to AA financials. Not just wide body opportunities.