Oscar,

I know I am a little late, but I am sorry to hear about your loss. The glass is always half full when you think about where we could be, or what we could be doing. I'm sure one ofthe proudest days of your fathers life was when he got to fly with you.

My thoughts are with you in this difficult time.



New K Now

Someone is always going to be last at the track meet. When I started at SWA I could look out the window at just about any tail out there and divide his pay by 2 to get my salary. Some of the difference was made up by stock options (worked well for senior guys) but with Sep 11 and what not, that didn't work out so good for me. Our union worked to get our pay up. Did SWAPA make UAL,CAL, AMR or even mighty DAL crews accept lower pay than us? Considering the economic environment the last 10 years you guys HAD to help out management or (in some cases) start over. We need to help the Spirits, VA's and whoever achieve the pay we deserve instead of this bs thread.

P.S. FTB, That is a mighty big...schedule you got there, Do you whip that out in the bar?

Actually they never matched the better paying airlines. SWA rates in force today are still 15 percent below the wages many airlines had in 2001. SWA wages would be right down there with the rest of us except for a incredible windfall SWA made in heating oil futures. SW management has always been better at investment then other airlines. Delta bets wrong on every fuel hedge gamble out there.

Don't worry SWA folks, the cyclical spotlight has shifted for the time being. It's similar to the FAA Diamond MX award...eventually even Colgan can win it. So sit back and enjoy the news about Delta for a while...heck, you folks at SWA don't even have a " latest and greatest" thread on this website

Momentary change in thread direction . . . .


SWA poolie here . . . I have been posting quite a bit recently over in the Regional forums regarding Skywest purchasing XpressJet via ASA and the ALPA union issues that are potentially presenting themselves. (I currently fly for Skywest, I am strongly in favor of an in-house union, and strongly against ALPO, I mean ALPA, representation.)

For the SWA pilots, a couple of questions about SWAPA:

1) How was SWAPA originally formed? Did you ever consider ALPA?
2) How much are your in-house union dues?
3) The President of SWAPA and other SWAPA muckety-mucks, how much money do they make for their SWAPA time and efforts?
4) For how long does the President serve their term? (I assume they are democratically elected)
5) In general, is there much division among the SWA pilots regarding the activities and/or effectiveness of SWAPA in representing the SWA pilots to management?

I am sure I have more questions but those are the few I have for now.

Thank you iin advance to any CURRENT SWA pilot(s) who cares to take the time to answer these questions.

answers below

Oscar, sorry to hear of your loss. Prayers are with you and your family during these times. s/f

Nice Q2. And Q3 is off to a roaring start. Record load factor, best ever if I read correctly. Nice to see some momentum in the right direction. I hope it continues to build for SWA and other airlines.

Well said Oscar, well said. Sincerely sorry for your loss...