SWA withdrew that requirement completely. You can interview, get hired, and go to the line with 737 training paid for by SWA. No requirement to pay for your own type. This happened about a month ago....

 

Here's some cold hard truths:

*there will never be unity amongst the pilot groups. If "unity" hasn't materialized by now in light of the way the industry has turned post-9/11 then I personally doubt it ever will.

*regional airlines won't be "stapled" to the bottom of mainline seniority lists. We are a huge cash cow for major airline management who have to answer to investors. We are a B scale and you better believe that mainline pilots will eventually vote away scope again and we will most certainly be flying 100 passenger jets for insulting wages. That's how they want it.

*all these bonuses being paid out reek of desperation. They are fighting like mad to keep the shrinkage at the regionals to a sustainable level until they can bring the flying back to mainline.

*we won't ever see wage increases. These corporations are experts at what they are doing right now. They know that if they raise wages to try and attract new hires that just means they will have to fight to get that money back the next time there is a downturn in the industry. Bonuses are a solution that isn't permanent. Raises would in effect be a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Get in, get your time, get the hell out.

 

Talking to a senior SW Captain today, classes are going unfilled, people are no showing for Southwest groundschool.

 

You're getting there....But there's still part of that statement that seems to rationalize that regionals should exist at all. Unless they go back to flying "puddle jumper" 19 seat turboprops they shouldn't exist using their current business model.

As they are now they are full sized national airlines (remember that term?) flying large jet aircraft....just like the majors. Stop thinking of them as stepping stones for the exact same job at another company.

There is absolutely nothing anywhere that suggests it's necessary for a pilot to have time flying in a smaller jet before downgrading to a larger jet as a first officer. When an experienced RJ captain takes a pay cut with a job at the same mainline who owned the RJ he is downgrading by the very definition of the word.

 

Wow, seriously? This is very hard to believe!

 

If they drop their 1000 pic , I know lots of good fos that are stuck in regionals för many years.

 

i find it easy to believe seeing as its not 2008 anymore and people can go to delta with no 121 pic

 

I find that extremely hard to believe. Extremely...

 

A good friend of mine is there. He reported the class after his had no-shows. This is first hand information. I talked to him personally about 3 days ago.

 

That doesn't mean they decided this racket is a crappy job- they probably had legitimate reasons for skipping out.