flydc

Ya, you can do all that at AA too.... with the added bonus of upgrading much faster.

RckyMtHigh

1. Who has the domicile you want/do live in?
2. If you are commuting regardless - AA
3. If you are under 45 - AA

I can say after 3 years at swa I have yet to have a miserable trip because the guy sitting next to me (not that AA wouldn’t be the same, I don’t know).

e6bpilot

Not a crank measuring contest. Thanks for the info, though. My point is that there are a lot of benefits to having one aircraft in your fleet.

Sliceback

Some guys think there’s a lot of miserable guys at AA. Enough new hires have beat that back saying it’s the rare trip that has a miserable guy on it. Take you pick on what you think the real truth is. The majority of guys shake their heads at the guys that live in their personal misery zip code.

In 3-4 yrs of w/b flying since we started hiring I’ve flown with two miserable guys on the same crew once or perhaps twice. The funny, or strange part, was one of them thought he was the happy guy and others were miserable. In a year of n/b flying since we started hiring I recall flying with one miserable guy. He thought he should have merged to AA with his 1998(?) AE DOH. He didn’t appreciate that he hadn’t run into anyone who sided with him...

Sliceback

There are also lots of benefits of having multiple types. And flying to S. America, Europe, Asia, Caribbean, and Hawaii has its benefits. There’s a reason w/b long haul flying is light years more senior than
n/b and especially domestic n/b flying.

And the 737 is the worst aircraft at AA(ignoring the 190 and S80 which are small fleets and dying). The 737 is ok but every other airplane we have is better.

Rawhide16

I’ll add my $.02 as a fairly new guy at AA with numerous friends at SWA. The majority of the crowd that hangs out here is very negative and I think it paints a bad picture of AA. I’ve been here a year and I love it! As Slice mentioned, the tide is turning. We’ve already elected several new union reps that we believe will lead us to a better contract. Many of the bitter old guys are being replaced with more level-headed younger folks.

The seniority advancement opportunity is ridiculous here. I have 750 people below me in 11 months and we didn’t even have any new hire classes in most of last Nov and all of Dec. I’ll likely be able to upgrade to group 2 CA by roughly the 5-5.5 year point barring any unforeseen events.

Having said that, all of the guys I know at SWA absolutely LUV it and wouldn’t leave for anything. They definitely have more schedule flexibility which can lead to more earning potential if done right especially considering their profit sharing eclipses ours.

To each their own. You won’t know if you made the right decision until the day you retire.

Sliceback

If you are 45+ why would you recommend SW over AA?

Guys hired right now are looking at just under 6 yrs to junior Captain (company wide) and 7 yrs in the senior bases. 777 FO is at 4 yrs and the 330/787 is at 5 yrs. Senior bases are about an additional year longer.

e6bpilot

Mostly agree with all your salient points. Both are great places to be for different reasons. They are two very different companies.
As for long haul flying, BTDT, have the t-shirt, glad I am not doing it any more, but wish I had the opportunity to do it later.

RckyMtHigh

It wasn’t a rec for SWA over AA for the older crowd, it was that AA should be a no-brainer for younger guys. Things start to even out more as your career gets shorter and other considerations may come into play for the older guys.

at6d

Either place is a good career choice. I’m about to finish my third year and was a former Eagle guy for 7.

The cultures are vastly different, the scheduling is different, but it’s a good gig.

No complaints.