Carl,

Basically, the Volaris codeshare announced two years ago was a trial run at international service without the IT upgrades and operational headaches of going international. Our revenue people liked it, and to some extent it drove the decision to buy AirTran.

To suggest that SWA will not go international because we don't have the equipment and management only wants to outsource to lower cost labor is a complete fib. The idea that our reservation system alone would have been capable of booking international SWA passengers 2 years ago is laughable. It took them about a year to even be able to book a ticket on Volaris. We still can't do it on the SWA system, that's why all of the new Mexico routes that have been announced are AirTran. We will not be using AirTran's reservation system much longer, I think that you'll see some sort of outside IT contractor with a huge project over the next two years.

SWA (via AirTran) has recently announced a lot of new routes in Mexico, the home of Volaris. All codeshares combined are limited to a maximum of 4% of SWA ASM's and the company is well below that number. If they wanted to announce more Volaris codeshare they could have done it instead of announcing new SWA/AirTran routes. To be honest, I don't think that the codeshare has been all that successful because the Volaris airplanes aren't allowed to have anything on them that suggests they are Southwest Airplanes. Our website has to have the Volaris name prominently displayed on the screen at all times, and IMO that has not been appealing to the average US tourist.

The short term plan (now) is expanding near international (Mexico and Caribbean) through the existing AirTran systems. The medium term plan (5 year) is international service to Central and South America down to Brazil with 737's. Europe and Asia will require a different aircraft, and I believe that will take at least 5 years.

I think that it's great that senior guys over there are concerned about codeshare and scope because it affects the junior guys the most. In the current environment, I can't imagine SWAPA accepting more codeshares. I realize that past performance is no guarantee of future success, but I can tell you that codeshare relief for the company isn't going to happen in the next contract. Do they want it? Absolutely.

 

Almost forgot from the Crew Room brief. ...

Oh and Gary Kelly had to fly Delta to get back to Dallas last week. He flew First Class

 

Looks like an excellent alternative to Kew Gardens shuttle for those of us shopping displacement options:

 

That's Rasta Pilot, on his way to Montego Bay, Mon!

BB, thanks for the info on the JG lounge brief. The funniest part (for me) is, they just had record earnings, yet we STILL don't seem to have money for an EFB...?

YGTBSM!

 

Good deal. Thanks for the info.

Carl

 

Versus training by memo, driving my 1990 Nissan truck to work and, well, still clearly being the hired help....

 

Wanted to provide this handy guide to MSP pilots who come to Atlanta for their 06:00 duty in.

3:45 AM: Shower. Brush your teeth. Finish getting dressed, grab food for your flight bag out of the freezer, feed the dog/cat/ferrets/whatever. Realize you have Navy Blue pants on, use the sand paper texture of the Flight Station issue britches to sort for correct pants without waking family up.
4:15 AM: Run out the door, slamming it behind you.
4:15:15 AM: Run back inside and frantically search for your keys. Find them in the freezer.
4:16 AM: Lock the door, slam it behind you as you leave.
4:17 AM: Crank the car and look at the house as it warms up. Realize you left the bathroom light on. Take the house key off the key chain and run back inside.
4:18 AM: Run from room to room, turning off all the lights you left on.
4:19 AM: As you pass your computer desk, put your computer to sleep, delete APC from cache and grab your cell-phone and keys off the keyboard, where you'd left them so you wouldn't leave without them.
4:20 AM: Lock the door behind you as you rush to the car, which is now finished defrosting the windshield.
4:22 AM: Gun it down the driveway and narrowly miss whatever random creature has decided now would be a good time to go sniff the mailbox.
4:45 AM: Get stuck behind some decrepit old geezer in a Buick Century going 10 under the speed limit on a two-lane road with double yellow lines for the next 3 miles.
4:51 AM: Passing lane! Edge towards the middle of the road to pass, only to have to swerve back to avoid being run over by some jerk in a lifted Chevy or Ford pickup truck covered in chrome and riding on massive offroad tires.
5:00 AM: Notice that there's a huge line of people behind you, also being held up by father time and his Buick. Get paranoid that they think YOU'RE the one holding them up. Become frantic to pass.
5:20 AM: Another pass lane! Edge towards the center and take a peek. The coast is clear! GUN IT!
5:23 AM: Explain to the nice police officer that you were merely just trying to pass father time in his Buick and didn't realize the passing lane was only 14 feet long. Also apologize for taking the Lord's name in vain...15 times. In 11 seconds. With the window down. With the cop standing right there.
5:30 AM: Thank the policeman profusely for only giving you a warning and creep ever so slowly off the shoulder and back onto the road, driving 1 mile under the speed limit while the policeman is behind you.
5:32 AM: Policeman turns off to the left and out of sight. GUN IT!
5:34 AM: DEER! Brakes! Swerve! Correct! Re-correct! Re-correct! Re-correct!
5:34:23 AM: Check pants. No signs of defecation. Resume gunning it.
5:40 AM: Make good time for a few miles until you reach a huge line of cars going 10 under the speed limit, with a Buick Century at the front.
5:45 AM: Finally reach your turn-off. Floor it up the on-ramp and onto the interstate.
5:50 (to 07:30, this is highly unpredictable) AM: Merge successfully, after much utilization of your turn signal, horn, and middle finger.
6:10 AM: Try and slow your breathing and count to ten slowly before you kill somebody. Yes, we know that turn signals exist. Yes, we know that the left lanes are supposed to be passing lanes. Yes, we know that a Smart Four-Two in the carpool lane makes no sense. No, you may not ram him into the medi ... reach down to answer call from Crew Schedu ...
6:10:01 AM: (deleted for non PG content, que cursing, smoke and tire squeel) ...
6:10:03 AM: Ok, I think he's still alive, man. I think the oncoming traffic sees hi-
6:10:03 AM: (ohmigodican'tbelievethis.... que non PG content again)
6:10:05 AM: JUST GUN IT, MAN!
6:10:08 AM: ...
6:12 AM: ...
6:13 AM: Who knew Smart cars could flip like that? ........
6:13:52 AM Hope nobody saw your Air Force Academy/Fly Navy/Delta license plate frame.
6:14 AM: See your exit coming up in 500ft. Realize you've been zoning out, daydreaming about flying, flaming, flipping Smart cars for the past 5 minutes and you're still doing 90mph in the carpool lane with your driver's side mirror dangling by a couple wires.
6:14:25 AM: Car horns blare as you blindly cross 4 lanes of traffic and cut through the grass to make your exit. Cue middle finger again.
6:14:26 AM: Red light. Realize your driver's side mirror is no longer dangling there.
6:14:35 AM: Pull into Camp Creek lot, catch a glimpse of the the once every thirty minute bus topping the hill.
6:14:38 AM: Realize that this is the South. Who the heck parallel parks in the South?
6:14:40 AM: Pull straight into nearest spot. Slam your car into park from 5 miles per hour, grab hat and run like your car's on fire.
6:15:45 AM: Look back and notice your lights were left on while calling Crew Skeds to duty you in. Realize your food is on your computer keyboard at home.

Enjoy your trip.

 

LOL

Where did everybody go? Off applying to Emirates?

 

In a related story, truck driving school enrollment has skyrocketed in Memphis, Detroit, Atlanta, Minneapolis, etc.

I heard that DALPA is getting a "referral fee" from the Teamsters for every Delta pilot-turned-truck driver.

 

I bet Luv and Oscar could find the cat walking around in this photo before any of us could. You know they don't use normal eye charts in the day 2 medical review for SWA, they use this:



They also don't use a VD clinic either that can't find a pilots vein to draw blood so they stab the needle in and fish around til he passes out in pain and then claim he's unfit.