The few friends I have at SWA are making solid money, but they work their asses off for it. To each their own, but I think there are a lot of guys like me who are glad we're not effectively doing RJ flying in a 73 for way more days per month to make "big money" (and that's the only option for the rest of our career...73 "RJ flying" that is). To me, that's a good enough reason to take at least some seniority hit to jump to a legacy, and yes I understand that's a subjective statement.

 

And he’s awesome to work with hopefully he doesn’t take upgrade and push me down another spot lol.

 

Glad you are here to white night.

 

white knight*. Why so angry?

 

Roll your eyes all you want, but when someone comes in with this thread asking for advice and you put them down for sounding like a newbie they aren't the jerk for pointing out your demeanor. You knew what you were doing.

 

You might as well apply and see what happens, until you get a job offer you really don't have a decision to make. If/when you get a CJO, then you're going to have to look at your 2 prospects; stay put or make the jump. Starting over at the bottom of the SL sucks no doubt and any black swan can pop up and put you on the street; a war, a virus, a market melt down, or all 3 at the same time and the gravy train will come screeching to a halt.

When I was looking for a 121 job my criteria was base locations and upward mobility into higher paying (larger) airplanes. Also I didn't want to be on the street looking for work or out on strike any time soon. My top two choices were AA and DL, and then a distant 3rd was US Air, because they all had a BOS base at the time. Also I wanted to fly international eventually.

Fast forward 40 years and everything's different. No more Pan Am, TWA, Eastern, North West, Continental, Braniff, People Express, and so many others. What looks great today may turn to crap in the future and there's no way to know if you're making a good decision until you've retired.

Pay and benefits wise I'd have been much better off going to FedEx, but I was sick of flying freight at night and until all the majors went bankrupt they paid a bit more than FedEx. That all changed after 9-11, but there's probably going to be more black swans over your next 35 years so, good luck!

 

Listen to this man!, choose a legacy where you want to live. My major regret lol.

 

Fly90, I think you need to zoom out on your timeline and study some airline history. Would you believe me if I told you that Delta was also the place to be some 25 years ago? They and UAL were the cat's meow. So was US Air. Then they went bankrupt after 9/11, and boatloads of their jobs got outsourced. You know which airline shined back then and enjoyed a huge rise in seniority? You guessed it.... the Southwestern Trailways. Wanna go back even further? Imagine being a Pan Am pilot.... or how about TWA? Or the real Eastern? Let's get to more recent history.... how about FedEx?

You might even be able to pull posts on Southwest threads about guys asking if they should leave SWA for Fedex "because upgrade to a 757 was almost off the street and Southwest upgrade is a lifetime away..." Also, you may see comments along the lines of "freight is a more stable career than pax airlines..." Now look at them. They were offered deals to go to PSA Airlines with a big bonus! A regional!

My point? Settle down. You live in a seniority-driven world. Were you seriously expecting a 35+ year career of zero corporate drama? Did you think you would get that at Delta? Or any other airline for that matter? If you do, please contact me for a super cheap deal on a bridge on either coast....

As others said, unless you're one of the last few hired at Southwest, you probably missed the boat at the legacies. Look at the numbers hired at Delta just since 2021... FAPA shows 6,431 pilots hired just in the last 3 years - and they've been hiring since 2014. See for yourself: https://www.fapa.aero/pilot-hiring-history

APC is full of trolling jackwagons who get off on people's misery and sowing FUD... learn to ignore people like that and even put some more annoying ones on your ignore list. My advice to you is enjoy life and whatever that means to you. You get 18-20 days off per month. Go vacation somewhere, pick up a hobby that gets you away from the negative nancies on these boards. Or you can bang away 150+ TFP per month and sock away cash. It's nice to have options, and you have plenty of them without nuking the seniority you already have.

 

Stop insulting the man, I mean SWA and AA are on the brink of extinction.

 

Your points are well taken. I don't disagree. My biggest concern is SWA's long term outlook. I'm not very confident in our leadership and where we are headed. We will definitely see a lot of stagnation. Whether or not we shrink significantly...idk. I think it's fair to say Delta and UA are some of the safest places to be and probably for a long time. They are practically printing money (at least with respect to the airline business). I hope I am completely wrong about SWA.

This thread has been surprisingly helpful but APC standards. Yes, there are a lot of trolls. Already ran into a few. Not sure how to use the ignore feature on here.