ZapBrannigan

It's a good airline but there are stark differences in work quality of life vs the legacies. It is important that job seekers do their due diligence.

One of the things that I failed to properly research before coming to SW was the lack of commutable trips, for example. It never occurred to me to even ask - because every other airline I had worked for had at least some percentage of trips that were commutable on both ends. Not so here.

So once you look beyond the pay rates and trip totals... dig into the rest of the CBA. You may find that SW is still a great place for you. Or maybe it's a good "safety school". Either way, you accept the job armed with all of the facts.

RckyMtHigh

Agree with Zap in that things look a lot different in your mid 30s than mid 40s. I'm hoping for a early retirement and calling it quits at about a 15 year career, so I wasn't going to be some widebody captain at the legacies. Did I want to go through upgrading aircraft/seats and starting at the bottom of the list 3-4 times in my career? Not really. Legacies/cargo would have involved commuting or a move we didn't really want to do. My biggest factor was quality of life over the next 5 years. SWA checked that box. I think after that point things factor in favor of going elsewhere, but I could be dead by then so I'll take QOL with the family now over future greatness.

Back to the topic, I've did a year on reserve (couple months by choice) working on average 12 days a month. That's working harder than my buddies at Delta and United, but they are still all commuting to work. As a lineholder that's increased to 14 days-ish. Considering going back to reserve for the fall.

With SWAPA pushing a total re-write of the contract, does SWA look more like a legacy as far as work rules post 2020?

at6d

I'm an FO bidding 79% in domicile after 1.5 years. Somehow for July I ended up with weekends off, 16 off total, and PM trips for a total line TFP of 117 (one vacation day in there).

I know, right?! Weekends off? I need to look closer and see where I screwed up.

The month blocks high at about 90.

I am at 900 block in 365.

Thunder1

F/O currently 59% domicile seniority. Holding weekday flying for the most part and I'll pick up premium on the weekends if I want to. Getting awarded Sunday PM 3-days that I then ELITT into all weekday flying.

2016 I flew 857 block hours which does not count deadheads. So, easily over 900 hrs. if you count deadheads. It sounds like a lot but counting thru my logbook I flew at total of 176 days in the year -- an average of 14.67 days per month. I also sat some reserve days that I never got used so those don't show up in my logbook, but that sure as heck show up on the paycheck.
Had 2 weeks of vacation where each week was turned into 19 days off with our vacation overlap trip pull rules.

I credited 1700+ Trips For Pay for the year.
Like others have said, when you are at work at SWA -- YOU WORK! However, for me the strict AM/PM schedules work for me as well as the ability to get max pay for the least time at work. Our trips are dense.

Each airline has their own particulars that you need to be aware of but in reality it's not an issue for but the very small number of guys that end up having job offers from 2 different airlines. But, as always, go in with your eyes wide open, with as much true intel on the job as possible.

Sr. Barco

You're welcome.

Zap is spot on about doing research on SWA scheduling practices. SWA is primarily a point to point airline and it's a single fleet airline of course also. These two characteristics provide for "efficiencies" that you can't imagine. Whether that's good or bad for Pilot QOL is a judgement call but certainly it's different from a hub and spoke, multi-fleet legacy. A prime example being AM/PM scheduling and consistent days of the week schedules. I.E. you'll fly every Mon-Wed or Fri-Sun etc.

Sorry for the thread creep (on a thread I started no less!) but it's worth mentioning that contract 2012 was a huge shift in the right direction on too many levels to elaborate on here. I believe contract 2020 will be another strong, positive shift. High aircraft and Pilot utilization is in the company's DNA but the work rules are slowly being modernized. Pay and retirement is way up also.

(Mr. Boat...Jaja. Me reía mucho de eso.)

Burton78

Just curious. At what year rate was your 1700+ TFP?

hoover

FO at 76% in a base I commute to. Just in the last 4 months I've been off of reserve and have been using ELITT To get at least 1weekend day off each week sometimes a whole weekend. With that I work 15 days a month.
Moving to a base for July in which I'll be at 87% but I'll have same bidding power as there won't be 50 new hires in my base each month. I'll still be in the blank lines. I think I'll still fly the same schedule but will be home 4-5 days more a month plus all those half days.
I've only picked up 4 days in the 1.5 yrs I've been here. Like Zap said you can't commute the trips. Living in base I plan on using those 4-5 extra days at home to add $ to my check.
I don't think the work is hard. It's efficient as in you don't have the airport appreciation time some of the majors do. Fly one leg sit for 3hrs and fly one back. That is not what I like. It's busy and there are trips that work harder than others. I make sure to have an easy three day in the month so I don't get burnt out. But when I'm gone at work I want to make as much $ for my days gone.

dazdandconfused

Thanks for all the good info. Just curious if you are sitting reserve, is it an A.M./ P.M. reserve or a traditional "on the hook" for the 3 or 4 days? I've heard some people say they are sitting A.M. reserve, etc. does that mean if you aren't used in a given day by a certain time you are "released" until the next day?


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Smooth at FL450

Yes. We have AM and PM reserve blocks. They are referred to as RAP (reserve availability period), and the times vary by domicile. In OAK, AM RAP is 0300-1700, PM RAP is 1000-0000. You have 2 hours to report once notified. And yes, if not used during a day, you're released at end of RAP until the next day. On your last day of reserve, if not assigned a trip, you're released after 7 hours. Helps the commuters get home.

RJSAviator76

The contract also says that if unassigned after 8 hours into your RAP, you're released.