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We won't be hiring any time soon, nobody will for years to come. When the industry starts turning around there will be lines of applicants waiting behind the lines of furlough recalls. By then the mins will change to reflect the average aplicant''s experience. Expect it to go up from what it was pre-Covid times.

Maybe the pilot asking the question is a long term planner...if your timeline is to get hired here in 2020 then your SOL...but Southwest will hire again. I remember when the AT deal happened, people were predicting 15 year upgrade and no hiring for years. Things will come back at some point.

Anyways, the mins haven't changed in quite some time other than to remove the 1000 PIC turbine requirement. The poster should really be asking what competitive mins will likely be...but here are the mins:

Experience: 2,500 hours total or 1,500 hours Turbine total. Additionally, a minimum of 1,000 hours in Turbine aircraft as the Pilot in Command* is preferred. Southwest considers only Pilot time in fixed-wing aircraft.

A huge thing for swa to get the interviewing is doing anything outside of flying for the company like recruiting, check airman (duh) Union, volunteer work etc etc everyone’s got hours, set yourself apart in anything else you can bring to the table

Learn another trade and don’t rely on airline employment in the near term.

Hang in there, you'll get here eventually
 

I would expect it to be a while before we hire again, maybe sometime next year. If this is where you want to be just keep at it and you'll get here eventually. Once you do I hope you share the feeling that it's the best job in the world. I certainly wouldn't want to be doing anything else or working for any other company. We're definitely in a crisis but we'll get through it. It's times like this that help you see what kind of airline you work for.

As far as minimums go they publish the current mins on the careers page or pilotcredentials. I think by the time we hire again most applicants will meet our current minimums. Part 121 turbine PIC time is always good, jet PIC time is good. Like someone said earlier it helps to have additional experience outside the cockpit; instructor, check airman, management, union, volunteer work, etc. Anything that sets you apart in a positive way. Keep in mind that SWA knows you can fly the jet, they want to know that you're our kind of person. Read up on the company's mission, purpose, values, etc. It also helps if you familiarize yourself with any current flight ops info you find (I'm sure it's available online).

Ignore the Debbie Downers, you'll get here soon and it's awesome!

If things go the way I'm thinking they will, by the time we hire there will be many 737 typed pilots, with college degrees, with recent 121 experience floating around. It's going to very competitive.

Depends on your definition of recent.

Quarterly financials is a good start.

Don’t forget to update your displacement preferences.

You forgot to mention that to hold ATL as a plug FO will take 10-14 years and upgrade in OAK will take 20-22 years... ;)

It must be very dark on your planet.