Bottom of SWA or bottom of new American?
 

You wise old airline guys dust off your crystal ball.....for us military folks new to the 121 airline gig what's your advice....

Now that the American/US Airways merger looks like a done deal....Assuming you get offers at both SWA and New American/US Airways which is better long term (say the next 20 yrs)?

SWA:
PROs: Good work rules, good pay.
CONs: very slow seniority movement (15 yr upgrades?) unless there is growth, single aircraft type.

New American:
PROs: Lots of retirements (10 yr upgrades?), largest airline, variety of flying.
CONs: merger thrash for the next couple years and work rules that need to improve at the next JCBA.

Work rules/pay/domiciles seem to change but pilot demographics (ie age/mandatory retirements) seem to be a constant with American/US Airways being very old and SWA being relatively young with fewer mandatory retirements.

I understand seniority is everything in the airlines. Does that tip the balance to New American?

SWA life....

AA, no question.

Whoever calls you first then if you get another offer decide then.

Well, do you want to fly for a glorified regional or the world's new largest airline?

Airline life is always better living in domicile. Commuting is stressful, takes time and cost money. I'd take that into consideration and look at what airline would match up best with your situation.

If it doesn't make much difference, AA seems the better choice to me right now. It's all about seniority and progression "should" be better there. (but people were saying the same thing back in 99'-00') Good Luck.

Short answer to your question: Yes!:)

Longer answer, a lot depends on what you are looking for or, in other words, what's important to you. Does either airline have a base where you want to live (that has a high probability of remaining)? Would flying one aircraft for your entire career bother you? Do you want to fly international? Seniority wise, I'd go with American.

Bottom line, they are both very good airlines. Go with the first one that hires you (I did and I was lucky) and if you get hired by the other while in training..............then make your choice. In the long run, I don't think you could go wrong either way.

As a new guy at American, I wouldn't worry about the merger angst. You'd be on the bottom and, other than listening to guys beyotch about an SLI, it's really not going to affect you.

Don't forget there are other airlines out there too!:)

Denny

Strike,

I would not listen to anyone who is absolutely certain which company to choose. Especially those who make snarky (see above) remarks and have shown bias towards one airline or another in the past. You can view each contributors posts from the past to see if they are worth listening to. Some comments need to be relegated to the IHSWA thread.:rolleyes:

Frankly, as a long time employee at SWA I still look forward to going
to work. That given, some of the arguments to choose the "new" AA are certainly good ones. Evaluate the truly helpful comments and make a decision on what is best for you. Good luck!

The Oscar

P. S. These same decisions have been discussed for decades. This very decision was being made by my fellow squadron mates in the 80's. I will only say that some of them made a decision and then, because of bad luck are now at little 'ol SWA. What appears to be a slam dunk in this industry usually isn't.

I think unless you live in OAK or LAS, seems like AA would be best long term. Looking at the mou, the CA pay is higher per hour than SWA CA pay once you get up to 2018 and up for group 2. Also, mou states 16% into 401k - not bad. Plus I would think a new hire would stay on reserve longer at SWA since they would be behind all air tran. You mentioned work rules at Aa. The mou states 13 days off for a 31 day month for reserves and 12 days off for all other months. Should go into affect very soon. I'm fairly certain work rules will be same as dal or better for the new jcba.

If you want to fly only the 737, multiple legs/day in general, for your career; SWA.

If you want to cross the pond at 64N watching the auroras, enjoy pub grub and fine beers, and get paid for sleeping for hours in a bunk; AA. ;)

As a new hire, I flew a 24 leg three day trip as a 727-100 FE. Decided I didn't like that at all - the extreme multi-leg stuff.

In seriousness, they both have positives. I found that I greatly prefer long haul, and it's nice to have a choice. I also found more than about 8 years in one equipment type bored me silly. It's nice to move around a bit.