I am personally in the any two weeks camp. The vast majority of pilots here don't want two consecutive weeks of vacation because it is pointless to have two consecutive weeks of vacation. If we started bidding for what we intended to actually use, these stupid shenanigans with bidding and trading to your cartel buddies or sugar daddies would stop and you would see a more equitable spread of vacation throughout the list.
I am all about seniority. The super senior should absolutely get the weeks of vacation they desire. They can do that, however, without block bidding 5 weeks of summer vacation that they will not use just to turn around and trade them out of seniority to their buddies. I once flew with a guy and watched him trade into a summer week for 5 buddy passes. Wtf? How is that any different than paying someone cash?

Surely you can't be serious.

YES YES YES 1000 TIMES YES!!! But jeebus forgive that I suggest such a thing on the line or the forums. How dare I take away their little cottage industry of using vacation weeks as currency... [emoji35]


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I kept hearing how much better everything was done at AirTran compared to what is done at SWA. So if that is the case I thought I would throw out the idea of how they did vacation bidding.
In reality I believe that 2 weeks of block bidding or bidding any 2 weeks in the 1st round would be fair.

1,001 FO's can hold captain and are bypassing right now. Plug captain is now at 61.9% seniority as of Sep 1 vacancy bid. Interesting...

For those with class dates and applying, the new-hires hitting the line and done with IOE went to BWI, MDW, OAK, MCO and it still looks like one should be able to hold anything within 2-3 months from hitting the line with the exception of ATL.

ATL is rapidly approaching the bottom of the AirTran FOs. There were a few 6 digit guys who got in there this bid. I would say a couple more good months like this and all the tran guys who want back will get there. Many of them have moved to other bases. ATL is finally growing a bit, albeit slowly.
Once this happens, ATL is going to start going a lot more junior. I wouldn't be surprised to see it even out into a Denver type of base in the next couple of years.

What, if anything, is stopping the bottom ~60% of the seniority list from fixing this? Or do you guys think this is that what's likely about to happen with the vote in November? From the outside looking in it seems like a no brainier to vote in a new system that, while still allowing the most senior to get the vacation they want/deserve, is more equitable across the board.

It's going to change. There is no doubt. It isn't even the bottom 60 percent. It's more like the bottom 70-75 percent.
The union proposed a change a few years ago in a very "old swapa" way of doing things. They put out a survey. It was the modern equivalent of "Saddam yes or Saddam no?" and was (not shockingly) found to be inconclusive. Enough guys called BS to have the new regime put out a well thought out and researched education piece and set up a vote that will actually impose the will of the majority.
I am still relatively junior and I don't expect a summer week or Christmas. That will come in time. I just hate the current system as it stands. It is (in my opinion) corrupt and not being used as it was intended.

Good to hear common sense is hopefully about to prevail.

It may not matter. Even if the group overwhelmingly votes to change the company may come back and ask for concessions in exchange. Especially if they determine that doing so will increase their costs. Plus whatever burden costs they have in reprogramming the scheduling software to the new system.

Hopefully they wouldn't fight us on this, but if recent history is any indication, nothing is free.


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Implementation date: 3rd quater 2021.
Also a lot of guys bypass in the vacation bidding month. Oct should be more accurate for upgrades.

How does seniority within a class get decided? Age? I assume you still bid amongst a class for initial domiciles?

Good point. It's actually pretty dumb to upgrade in a vacation bid month.

Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament.

#bestdayoftrainingever

Age.
There will be up to 4 classes in a bid period. Being in the most senior class will help tremendously. The junior class almost always goes to the junior base in its entirety.

So with a 1 Aug start date, is that the senior class for the month, or does it depend on a finish date and when bidding for the following month occurs?

The last class in July will prob be the sr class since I don't think they were on the Sept bid. So 8/1 will be in the middle/jr class. Might have another class behind that depending on their start date.

Class dates are Aug 8, 22, 29, Sept 12 so far from what I understand...

If that's true then the last July and 1st 2 classes in aug should be on the Oct bid. The last 2 Aug and first Sept would prob be on the Nov bid.

The next class after 1 August is 8 August then a two week gap until the third one.

I know a guy in the July 18th class and he said they'll put in bids in Aug for Oct, also. Sounds like their class will be the most senior in that group of new classes.

The cutoff is usually around then so could go either way. If you spend most of the month in training I think you get the temp base vs get on the vacancy bid. My class was earlier in the month and we did IOE the end of the prev month to the first week of the next month and we bid on the vacancy bid. Class that started the week behind us got the temp base and they started IOE around the same time.

What are the junior bases? How long before holding a line? How is training pay? I'm sorry this must be covered somewhere else but I'm new :D:D

2.9 tfp per day for a 30 day month at 67.32 per

The junior base thing has been covered ad nauseam. All bases except ATL are all relatively junior and can be held in three months time. Start at the coasts and work inward for relative juniority.
Training pay is min guarantee for the month. It should come out to a little over 6k gross. No perdiem in training but hotel is covered.

For the lucky new gals and guys, how far back are classes going? They into October yet?

They seem to be giving class dates about a month after CJO. I got the call on July 26th and start August 22nd

Upcoming classes!
 

Does anyone have the dates for the upcoming classes after 8/29?

9/12, 9/19

Awesome, thanks!

We'll be there to welcome you on Monday night. Congrats!

Looking for some insight to reserve at SWA.

What could a new hire in BWI expect for number of reserve days in a row/monthly total?

How long is callout? Short-call and/or long-call available?

AM vs. PM reserve exist?

How likely would scheduling allow a newb to pick up OT on days off?

Interviewing in September and trying to gain a foothold if I do well.

Thanks all.

When did you apply? How soon after applying did you get the interview invite?

15-16 Days of Reserve per month. The line you bid will not have more than a four day block. Can go up to six in month-month overlap correction, though. But you can make one of those days non-RON.

Yes. AM and PM reserves. In my base, AMs start at 0330 and PMs start at 1100

There is only 2-hour call out for reserves. No long call.

Yes, you can bid whatever OT you want and you'll get what your seniority can hold. As a first year, bid OT time trips at straight pay. You'll be awarded the trip over all the dudes bidding premium pay for it and you'll get near premium pay (actually, you get paid second year pay for OT picked up from the company, and that is pretty close to premium).

Actually, that's a little misleading.

Pay attention to monthly caps... if you're under the cap, you'll beat out a number 1 FO bidding for the same trip if he's over the cap. Seniority only applies if you're both in the same category - both over or both under the cap. I rarely flew at straight during my first year.

Anything you pick up from Open Time above your original line value pays second year pay.

If you pick up at premium, you get premium value at 2nd year rate.

If you pick up at straight time, you get straight value at 2nd year rate.

If you pick up reserve block from Open Time system, you get 2nd year pay for anything that happens during that reserve block. In other words, if you fly, anything that trip pays will pay you at 2nd year. Or if you don't fly at all, you get 6 TFP per day at 2nd year rate.

Applied August 1. OBAP August 10th. Invite August 11

For those who are new to 121: a friend of mine was given the opportunity to attend a class on short notice, about a month earlier than planned. This will put him ahead of around 60 other pilots on the seniority list vs attending the later class. Just to give you an example of how many pilots that is, in Dallas in September there are 61 reserve lines.

Seniority is everything. The more senior you are the quicker you get off reserve, get weekday flying, avoid working holidays, earn premium open time. It is also increases the buffer between you and any potential furlough. So, without trying to sound preachy, take the earliest class you can!


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I wonder who that could be??[emoji12][emoji12]

I can't say. You know how secretive pilots are. This one will let the world know when he/she is ready. [emoji1]


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Atlanta FO
 

Will someone please most junior line holder and junior reserve for ATL FO? Curious how long it would take to hold ATL. Thank you