BTW: No one buys your, "I try not to bring it up" comment. You're the single biggest whiner on this board. I can't imagine in a zillion years that you could keep your trap shut about it for a two hour flight.

I gotta think that as the PM, in a thunderstorm, while getting a hummer from a FA, you could stop and say, "and another thing that bothers me about SWA/SWAPA!"

 

There are many of us at lower tier airlines who would gladly take at the AT deal. Though your never want to lose seniority the simple fact that the pay and benefits are so much greater than what most of us have makes the decision a no brainer.

 

Really dude? So let me get this straight. Because you're at an airline that you say is "lower tier" than AirTran was/is, you think we should be happy about the deal? You're kidding, right?

You can't possibly be insinuating that. If we use that line of reasoning, Republic F/Os on the E190 top out at $36/hr and USAir Cptns. top out at $95/hr on the same plane. Both of those payrates SUCK, but yet somehow I should be happy with our situation because of that?

Oh and btw, I'm getting downgraded so go ahead and tell me how exactly my pay's going to be better. I now have to put in 10% of my gross to get a 9.3% match whereas before I didn't have to contribute squat to get 10.5% from the company.

Things could be worse and there are PLENTY of pilots that are a lot worse off than me/us, but your arguement is ludicrous.

 

I buy your "I have found every AT dude that I've actually met in person to be totally cool with coming to SWA. Even the Capts." comment about as much as you buy my previous statement about trying not bring up the SLI.

 

I wont go to SWA! #1, they wont have me #2, 20 year upgrade??? ***? 20 years as an FO then 10 as a CA? No Effin way I want to be callin "positive rate" when I'm 65. The door to SWA shut a few years ago.

 

Oh really? May I remind you that immediately before the aquisition/merger SWA had been stagnant for quite a while we were still growing albeit at a reduced rate.

Additionally, correct me if I'm wrong but didn't SWA buy AAI because of growth opportunities that weren't present for them on their own AND because they wanted to eliminate us as a competitor. A competitor that they were worried about (at least according to what was being plugged by management in your groundschools)?

Please don't try to make this out to be one airline saving another that was on the bring of closing it's doors. It's wasn't a AA/TWA scenario.

With regard to what scenario I was hoping for, simple......... a fair SLI that didn't include your management butting their nose in and threatening us with our jobs unless we agreed to the **** sandwich. I know that was too much to ask for.

 

***, over?

The case could be made that ATN was a large part of the reason DAL declared bankruptcy (Take a deep breath, DAL guys)

Only 6 days ago, the question, "Why did SWA buy ATN?" was asked to the SWA CP who was in ATL talking to guys in recurrent.

His answer? ATN was a 'pain in the a$$ and had 32 gates in ATL. Something SWA would never have and we needed.'

Prior to that, only my wife had called me a PITA. It made me proud.

As to the question posed by Oscar. I will show up to SWA ground school with a smile on my face and ready to kick A$$ for SWA. My concern is if I will ever actually get there.

 

yes, the red is mine...

 

Did you want it to turn out more like:

UAL/CAL
USAir/AmWest
American/TWA
Republic and Whoever

Even the kinder/gentler DAL/NWA had it's share of WhackMasters.

Consolidation has been the industry buzzword for a while, weren't you listening?

So quit your whining. Between now and 2015 I won't upgrade and I've already seen my system seniority stagnate because all the AT dudes bidding across the fence so far are senior to me (as predicted). You don't hear me whining about it.

 

As much as I HATE reading posts from WHACKMASTER, this post was spot on! AirTran was doing alright and didn't need to be bought to survive. AT was still growing......something that SWA hadn't done in a long time. So before any of the SWA guys make it seem as if they did the AT guys a favor, check your history if you could please. Thanks.