You're forgetting about hotel costs.

Correct. That and the decreasing availability of hotel rooms. That's why we have 3 and 4 hotels in some cities.

Satellite bases will happen due to cost savings. No other reason. Senior guys will just have to suck it up.

Moving into base just isn't a reality for many of us in our 40s with families. Thankfully SWA has one of the best commuter clauses in the business and the most days off per month for a junior reserve of any other airline.

Whack - you and I will agree. Hotel costs are huge with SWA.

E6bpilot - we will disagree, way off the mark here.....senior guys are not an issue with satellite bases. They will actually open up other main bases for seniority. No firings of crew base coordinators. AND satellite bases will be here sooner than you think. Yes, they have been the talk for many, many years. The ipad has open that game wide open for that.

For example, BNA is a great place to live. Many commuters live here for the easy one leg commute to MDW, BWI, MCO, HOU, DAL, and even DEN and LAS. You make a satellite base here and it opens up all these other bases for many reasons.

So unlike other majors you will work on reserve? Not relax at home and fly 100hrs a year.

Wrong.

Let's saw SWA opens up a new base in a city not currently in the network (100% growth). All the pairings for this new flying would have to originate in established base if it were not for the new base opening. Senior guys who live in the old base can't bid these pairings so they are missing out.

Now let's say SWA opens a BNA crew base based on the current flying there (0% growth). The pairings going through there now are currently flown by crews from other SWA bases. In a zero growth scenario, the company will transfer the pairings from other bases to support the new BNA pairings, giving senior guys in the old crew bases less options.

Any new base is either an opportunity cost or a dilution of flying for the other bases. New crew bases don't "open up" the other bases if those old bases lose pairings and as a result, crew members.

Please explain your logic.

Yeah, didn't even think of that. You are correct. That is a huge cost that would be offset.

e6bpilot - so senior guys from other bases are missing out. That is there choice to live where they want to. If they do not move to a "new" base, their choice. That is what seniority brings.

Also in a no growth environment there would not be much movement, but there is some. Either from guys not wanting to move to the "new base", or how the "new" base shakes out.

I am going with an educated guess that BNA for example will go senior. Opening up slots for junior guys in the other bases.

Opening up a physical base costs money, satellite base not so much. I heard that renting out the office space in MDW airport costs $2 million a year.

Any new satellite base will initially have a limited number of pilot vacancies, so of course it will go senior. The problem with your logic is that if BNA opens with say, 100 pilots, the other bases will shrink by some number up to 100. There is no new spot to "open up" for the junior guys and the senior guys have less choices.

Take a look at Atlanta for example. ATL is essentially a satellite base about 3 times smaller as the other bases. Nothing in open time, extremely limited ability to trip trade etc.

Please tell me why anybody other than a few guys who live in the proposed new satellite base would want that.

Stitches - my logic is never going to please you.

Growth solves most problems, and I am hoping that SWA starts growing again. Been too long.