SWA vs Delta
 

Any ex-SWA folks now flying for Delta care to lay out their experience? Schedule, flexibility, pay, etc. Am fortunate to have CJOs from both and am a bit torn. We do plan on relocating to the Atlanta area. Thanks in advance! They’re obviously both great companies!

Congrats on an exciting decision to make! I think you already answered your own question. If you and your family have agreed to move to ATL, then it should be a no brainer. Do a search for similar threads and you'll see agreeable content outlining QOL for both companies. Most pointing to the lack of commuting!

Good luck.

Delta
Quality of life , earnings, fleet

I'm not sure how senior ATL is for Southwest, but you are pretty much guaranteed ATL for DL from the start. Lots of nuances between the two that could affect your decision. Either way, congrats and be stoked you'll be driving to work!

Ask yourself, do you want to fly 737's for your whole career?
But both great companies to work for, congrats!!

ATL= Delta, no Brainer.

Semi-sarcastic reply from me, but this is kinda a no brainer question

I'm a SWA guy. ATL is our most senior base. That being said, it used to take years to hold but now is probably a year or just under.

I didn’t fly at SW - but have good friends there.
If you told me you were dead set on living in PHX or DAL, I would say go to SW. Since you are dead set on ATL, go with Delta.

Southwest is a great company, and you can make MORE than enough money there. But there’s no way I would want to fly a 737 forever or have a 7-12 year upgrade. The options of aircraft and seniority at DL (And living in Atl) make the job great!

Wasn't this very subject covered in the last year? It came down to, do you want to dress like a sailor or a cowboy?

Hat or no hat?

Leather jacket or no leather jacket

Windows or no windows?


Too soon?

If you live in ATL already and you have offers from both, you shouldn't even think twice - go to Delta.

My only concern with Delta is that they hired over 4,000 pilots over the last several years. Are those currently hired on the backside of the hiring wave?

Double breasted van Admiral or Wyatt Earp.

Not even close.

https://giphy.com/gifs/43n7h7h3IBqDK
versus
https://giphy.com/gifs/channing-tatum-hail-caesar-AT6nNPRQSVS1i

I can give a good prospective,

Former Swa guy with 2.5 years,
left in 2014, now close to 4000 below me at delta, hired right to WB and past year even larger WB. Can hold 320, 737, 88 and 717 Capt.

Very happy! No regrats!

Like anything there is good and bad in each, but overall I am very happy and no regrets leaving swa!

Mix of flying,
Main advantages with Delta is you have choices in the mix of flying, you want do just turns and be home every night we have it, you want fly overseas for one 10 -12 day trip we have that. You want sit reserve and fly 2-3 trip between oct-may,(just did it). You want fly 1000 hr a year and fly GS all day for 2x pay, we have it too.

Number of retirements,
Delta is estmated to be retiring 5000 pilots 1/3 of their pilots are planned or early retirements in the next six years, and the high number of retirement keep going, which mean your be a NB capt with some seniority within five years of you wish. Swa has growth, but overall a younger group of pilots,

Both have great pilot group to fly with, some of best people to work with, main difference I noticed, swa capt was like flying with your older brother or cousin, delta like flying with your cool dad or uncle.

hotel location are great at delta, if like to do stuff on overnights, other that eating at the hotel bar! by contract has to be downtown if over 12 hours, instead of airport area or commercial office park,

Please don't get me wrong, swa still a great company.

PM if you like any more info.

Catmando

You just insulted Wyatt. Not cool. :D

Applicants with a TBNT letter went on to form the Village People. :D

https://img.wennermedia.com/featured...age-people.jpg

Looks like an Amsterdam layover.

Was at SWA and moved over to fly for Delta. Both are great companies, and am more than happy to discuss the pro’s and cons with you.

PM me and I can shoot you my phone number.

Good luck in your decision.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd like to see the results of this thread if it were posted in the SWA forum. As a Delta guy who didn't even bother with a 737 type when SWA required one (read zero interest in flying for SWA) I can't even begin to fathom why somebody who plans to live in ATL would ask this question. I'd be curious to see if I've drank too much Kool-Aid here in Mecca or if there are actual SWA pilots; who given the choice, would pick SWA over Delta in this very specific instance. The question kinda blows my mind.

I dont know if there's been a cultural shift, but not too long ago there would have probably been a few "If you wouldn't tear up your certificate rather than work at SWA, we don't want you!" posts. I've never heard that kind of talk at DAL.

Having said that, my friends at SWA are good folks and have none of the koolaid cult attitude some SWA folks used to exhibit.

I’m at SWA and if I was dead set on ATL, I’d go DL.

Too much variety of flying and aircraft types to pass up.

It’s tougher than I thought for me. The one year point is on the horizon with SWA, ATL domicile will be awarded to me in July. So now I can drive to work living in Atlanta. I have a CJO with Delta and it’s a tough decision....been called an “idiot” and “moron” for contemplating this. But those individuals didn’t have a choice.... CJOs like FedEx, Delta, and Southwest. Atlanta is senior for SWA, but it went super junior last three months. Takes about a year to hold now. It’s good to have options and choices, but it’s been a struggle, both are good I know. It’s just the change and leaving a job that is hard.

Ask that "CanyonBlue" guy over at FlightInfo. I'm sure he has a strong opinion. :D:D:D

I’ll throw this out there, because I haven’t seen any info on it. If you decide a few years in at Delta (living in ATL) that you want to do something slightly different, the training department is an option. I’m not an instructor myself, but the vast majority of those folks seem to really enjoy the job. Home most nights, with good pay. They fly the line and instruct in the simulator.

SWA heard Delta got rid of Windows and followed suit.:D

Somehow MS S3 was lost in translation.

Aren't the captain upgrades at Southwest something heinous like 10 or 15 years? Maybe worse in Atlanta?

That is a really good question. We have had not just a few upgrades in under 3 years. The bottom end of the seniority list at DAL has seen very good movement for the last couple of years and that trend will continue. The upper end though, notsomuch, but I think that will be changing in the not too distant future.

I have to ask what reason one would want to choose SWA over DAL if you could drive to work at either company in the same place? For the life of me I cannot come up with a single reason. Stability of both companies is on a par. Upgrade time, variety of flying QOL in general are not even close imho.

It is a nice problem to have regardless. I hope he lets us know what he decides.

This is the tale of two Deltas: if you’re on narrowbodies, it was the best of times; if you’re on widebodies, it was the worst of times.

Yes you can upgrade sooner at Delta, on narrowbody fleets. Widebody flying continues to be very senior. If you want to be able to upgrade on a Delta widebody, you better be younger than 35 when you get hired due to all the people hired in the past four years. Also plan on it taking 3-5 years to be the plug as an FO on a widebody.

Having said all that, there is a reason people choose to be an FO on a widebody even though they are able to hold Captain on a narrowbody. That should tell you something.

Ten years I think would have been correct for present and last 10 yrs, but with approx. 1800 pilots hired 2017-2018, growth, Hawaii market, and retirements beginning, I have been told expect 8 yrs or less in the future.

And some will upgrade to narrowbody captain as soon as they can. What should it tell you other than there are options?

Some pilots cannot handle time zone changes. Strange as it is, I would rather do South America or Asia than Europe because of the way the time works.... for me. Some people just HATE being tired all the time. Widebody flying isn't for everybody so there ARE pilots that will upgrade for that reason. Some pilots actually like to fly airplanes so they will upgrade for that reason. I actually like the occasional domestic trip, and I don't mind going thru ATL. Some guys like transcons. I personally hate them. Turns? Not for me because I commute. Reserve? See previous answer. (Reserve on a narrowbody in base can be very lucrative).

Sorry for the diatribe, but focusing on the senior part of any category and using that to draw a conclusion about the majority of the pilot group is folly. I think the bottom line is that what we have at DAL that they do NOT have at SWA is options, and I think that is what the OP should look at.

The fact that you have a CJO and thus kept an updated app and interviewed with DAL tells me you have an idea of what you want to do.

There have been guys with more time at company that you who have come from SWA and JetBlue, it's all what you want to decide for yourself. Don't worry about what others think.

Why not Jumpseat on a legacy 757 transcon and see how easy it is to get 5.5hrs credit in 6.5hrs duty? That will surely help you decide your fate.

I applied to everyone, SWA (in my top 3) called and started me right away, the other two were late to call, but did. One factor is I am not sure if we want to stay in ATLANTA....that aside, I do like working for SWA, I am happy.... I never thought I would be in this position and I’m am just learning the most I can. This displacement stuff with MD88 is so Greek to me. Hard to understand it and what it would mean if I got into Delta now, what 5yrs down the road would look like.

Haha, this part made me laugh. It really is a cool job and beats sitting at a desk any day but people often gloss over that. Granted airline flying is monotonous and not the most exciting flying but it still beats actually working. I like your perspective about options. One man’s trash is..

Well said and please bear in mind I’m not casting aspersions on narrow boby pilots. The fact remains that when looking at the plug on the widebodies, they are fairly senior in both seats in all bases. When deciding on leaving SWA for Delta to fly international, one needs to realize it may take a while.

Many narrowbody Captains are coming from the 2014-2015 ranks. Those pilots can hold widebodies, but many choose narrowbody Captain. However, many of those senior to them seem to be staying put on the widebodies.

It’s about $40/hr more to work 4 legs a day for 4 days to make that Captain pay vs 2 legs total in the same 4 day period while sleeping a third of the time and having beers in Germany. For some that works, for others it doesn’t work. YMMV

The MD88 displacements are because the airplane is going away. The airplanes replacing it are much more modern so it's likely they won't go quite as junior as the MD88 did. It's not a bad thing for new hires that it's going away when it comes down to it.


For reference, new hires are going to, or holding in short order, every base at DAL except MSP.


I think Delta provides much more options as far as schedule type etc, but if you're happy where you are it's a decision for you to make.