I mentioned this in the career building page, however I thought I would take a chance and converse with some of my cohearts :P.

I'm a 27 year old, 28 next Friday! DAL based employee. I work in the hangar etc. Etc.

I have an eviscerating desire to fly our 737s.

I'm working towards my license and ratings; going to build time, but I can't help but to fear one major empass. The regional time....

No doubt this experience is necessary for me to be competitive, and acquiring the coveted 1500 TPIC looks daunting, when doing research on junior FO regional bids and maintaining SWA employment if I desire anythig resembling a life (but it can be done). Or I could look for cargo or a small 135 pax carrier flying turbo prop.

That being said. Will there come a time where I just have to bid SWA farewell and a "hope to see you later"? We've had had 4 hangar employees go internally to FOs in the past and naturally they aren't around for me to ask how they did it!

The faster you get your time and meet the qualifications, the better. If flying a SWA 737 is your ultimate goal, then do what you need to expedite that. You'll be able to keep your employee number, and I'm willing to bet that if your resignation given for the reasons above, that will look favorably on you when you apply for the pilot position. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to work with you to keep you on some kind of reduced schedule while flying.


Good luck!

First and foremost... do you have a 4-year degree? If not, you'll need it.

Secondly, plenty of folks come back, but they are usually competitive in every other aspect. I know a few pilots who started off as CSA's and FA's. For example, there's a captain in MDW who started here as a FA. She had a degree, went to a regional full time, and applied back once she met the minimum requirements. She was hired back and kept her employee number. Conversely, I know a former ramper who was arguably the biggest SWA cheerleader I ever knew. Her looks and personality would probably make her the poster girl for Southwest Airlines. She has several thousand hours TPIC, 737 type, great community service... no call. She's at AA now due to flowthrough. Reason? No degree.

I do have the degree part out of the way! I was probably just gonna give away almost all of my shifts at the hangar while flying!

Not sure how it works at SWA, but I attempted the same sort of thing while at another carrier. In my case, there were conflict of interests issues with working for 2 “competitors” at the same time. If you aren’t forth coming with that piece of information, it could cost you one or both jobs.

Feel free to PM me and we can discuss further if you wish. Best of luck.

Every internal hire I know quit to build time and then came back. You will have a huge leg up as a prior SWA employee and your employee number will be waiting on you when you return.
Best of luck.

Thank you everyone who took the time to reply!

Bull****.

We have plenty of people hired without a degree.

Ask me how I know.

How do you know :P

Rocky, that you?