I know this has little to do with the thread, but personally, I really like working at Delta. And it's just not me - I hear almost very little complaining from the guys I fly with. Sure, there are your malcontents, but at an airline with over 12,000 pilots there will be.

Every time I go to work, I go with a smile on my face.

 

Continental guys like it too, good management, new fleet, etc. Yes, the legacies are more sensitive to this recession, but some are still good. I hear Delta is getting ready to kick butt, in NY and elsewhere, with some hiring too. Anyway, Southwest is great too though...

 

Glad you guys chimed in. I very much agree that companies like Delta and Continental have many excellent employment aspects to them. My previous comments about "Just ask about their culture" was really meant to mean "there is no perfect place to work, just ask an XYZ airline pilot". (As a SWA poolie, I am not naive enough to think or believe in anyway shape or form that SWA is somehow exempted )

Any pilot, including myself, who is still flying at the regional level would be very fortunate to get an employment offer from either of these two companies. You are right, malcontents exist everywhere.

Even at Southwest.

 

Without opening up the flamethrower, the septic tank reference as related to other pilot career choices might have been the dumbest statement I've seen on APC in a long time.

 

Glad to hear that. Take it or leave it, it is my opinion about what I would rather do than fly corporate. I am in no way passing JUDGEMENT on others. Corporate is not MY career choice.

If it works for you, great. This world needs all kinds of pilots.

 

Uhhh, you might want to check with your CAL buddies. The ones I know are not too happy.

Inferior contract (when put next to the other majors/legacies/SWA), guys on furlough, guys flying 90+ hours with guys on furlough, and the company made money last quarter. No money being passed on to the pilot group, and no recalls.

 

The recalls will come. (When, who knows) But CAL was the first legacy to recall after 9-11, and they historically have gone gangbusters with expansion after that. For a legacy, it ain't bad. And like u said, the company made money last quarter. That's a good sign. Plus, Newark rules!!

 

It's not the "To each his own" statement, it's the arrogance of relating the sewer guys job as somehow better than flying for a corporation. I can't imagine, that the left seat of an RJ is somehow better than the left seat of a Gulfstream, 450/550 or Global Express type Part 91 operation. Certainly not in the pay and benefits department. But, I don't fly for either, so I'll not pontificate. I hope SWA drains the pool, and your hired soon, so you don't need to ever act on the septic statement. Yes, I know I'm being a bit sarcastic, so I'm sorry, but you must admit, the spirited discussion has been fun Just to keep a frame of reference, I typed at HPA in Aug. 08, and hope to someday get and interview and be where you are.

 

I think you might re-evaluate that statement when you are entering the 3rd hour of your FAA mandated groundstop on the last leg of your trip!

 

Fair enough, the sceptic comment is a little exaggerated and a fair target. So shoot me. It is just not something I want to do. Ha ha! And if the SWA thing does not work out, no, I will not be applying at the local Acme AAA Sceptic Services, Inc.

I truly wish you the best with SWA and your interview. Not that you asked, but here are my two cents - it is really a very straight forward couple of hours. No tricks, no underlying agenda. Just be yourself. Only give honest, truthful answers. The only "wrong" answer is the one guys/gals make up. The SWA Flight Ops Recruiting team is really, really good at what they do - specifically, that is finding pilots with personalities that will contribute to and enhance their CULTURE. You've already demonstrated you can fly a B737 - you have your type. They want more, much more. And they can smell a lie or an exaggeration a mile away.

Another interesting note. I don't have even 1 hour of corporate flying in my logbook and they knew that. Of the handful of questions they did ask me and of the millions of possible questions they could have asked - they did specifically ask me in my interview if I was ever interested in flying corporate.

I gave them the one and only "right" answer . . . . . . . . . a truthful one, solely based on who I am as a pilot. Whether this helped me or hurt me in the interview - I have no idea.