Thought I'd quit clogging up the "Alaska Hiring" thread so that the discussion could focus on hiring. Anyhow, I am fortunate enough to have CJOs at both shops, and will have to choose a class date soon. I am utterly torn between AS and SWA and thought I'd seek advice.
AS's culture / vibe have always really appealed to me, and your new TA is a huge benefit. That speaks to the (positive) state of the management/ employee relationship at AS.
I'm looking for a place to hang my hat for the final 15 years of my career; I have zero desire to go fly widebodies. All of the good things I'd heard about AS are what compelled me to apply, and I loved what I heard on interview day. However, this decision ain't easy.
I live in the junior base for both carriers (SWA/OAK and AS/SFO.) My #1 priority, by far, is scheduling flexibility. Upgrade time is also somewhat important, as I only have 15 yrs left in the game. Time to hold a line is also important, because reserve is a special kind of torture at my current shop.
So my questions are:
• What does scheduling flexibility look like at AS? That is my #1 priority, by far. My buddies at SWA (mostly junior FOs) universally love SWA because they started with 15 days off on reserve (that's significantly better than the 12 days off at AS), and now that they hold lines, I've seen in detail how their bidding/ trading works. The ELITT system they have is kind of amazing, in that it's very easy to move stuff around. Or you can bid a couple days of vacation, and if that vacation day touches an assigned trip, that trip is dropped. I can't tell you how incredible that is, considering the scheduling policies at my current shop.
What I've read on this forum, though, is that scheduling flexibility at AS is far less than what SWA has. I get that PBS is coming at AS, but we have PBS at my current shop and there is zero flexibility to move anything because everyone is max'ed out and we're permanently below min reserve staffing. I'm like the informal PBS help guy for my base and while I know the system inside out, I can't even get a single turn (!) picked up on our scheduling board because everyone is working to 117 duty limits and min days off. So the whole point of my post is to understand how much flexibility your junior peeps have.
• How long for a new hire to hold a line in SFO?
• Are SFO lines packed with lots of redeyes?
• There's a lot of talk about SFO growth, but from the investor presentation, AS is planning low single digit fleet growth for the next year. So where is that SFO growth gonna come from?
This is hopefully the final career decision I'll ever make, and I really want to make it an informed one. Thank you all!