Serious thoughts about leaving.
 

After 4+ years I’m giving serious consideration of another airline. After seeing what’s happening at other airlines in terms of upgrades, progression and contracts it’s hard to ignore what’s happening here. The arrogance of management has me wondering about the future of this company and prospects for a fulfilling career. There were certain draws here several years ago that made up for some shortcomings but navigating this COVID crisis has shown that this company is NOT the company many of us thought it was.

Thoughts?

Serious thoughts about leaving.
 

If I were ten years younger, there's no doubt I'd be looking to leave.

I came here for the job security, nothing else. Their quickness to throw the warn notices at the first sign of trouble, the timing of those notices right before Christmas and two months earlier than would be required by the law, and the pilot group's unwillingness to to do entertain anything to "keep Dean" other than put a sticker on their bag all show me that it's not the company that I hoped it would be.

Absent the job security, what's the draw?

I think SWA will see pilots who are in their early years at the airline and younger, looking elsewhere especially if they don't live in base.

Well, I wish TA-1 had passed… I had my resume and logbooks ready to go. Now, I’m stuck wishing that I had… The only things I see better here is vacation and flexibility… it’s a tough choice, but…. Good luck.

Serious thoughts about leaving.
 

Vacation, for sure. Except for the ability to bid big blocks of vacation and use them as a commodity to get whatever else you want. That system favors the ultra senior at the expense of the senior and mid seniority pilots.

Flexibility? I'm not so sure. You can't drop trips here. Trading down is a challenge when times are good.

There are two things we can do here that we couldn't do at most of the other places I worked. 1. Pick up out of another domicile and, 2. Fly as much as you want (other places had a pay cap, negative bank etc)

At those other places we had the ability to bid for training (date and sim time), trips that touched training would drop so it became just another schedule adjustment tool. Schedule adjustment period was much closer in than ELITT. Choose trips as a reserve. Get released early as a reserve with no assignment. Long call reserve. Release until report on reserve.

I think the flexibility is a bit of a myth here, and is further limited every year by worsening tech debt.

Agreed.... the closest thing I had to flexibility was when we were so bloated that people would pick up my RSV blocks...

Yep. Agree. And while other airlines renew contracts with improvements in these areas, we will wait how long on ours? The track record is not good and shows no signs of changing. And while you’d think the current environment would key the company up, they seem more concerned with maintaining control instead of moving forward with a contract that would actually benefit the company.

Seems to me that SWAPA has more interest in the health of the company than our “leaders”

Do it.....

Except for training touching trip drops (PBS), we have all that at NK..... Including cr@p IT.
(not sure if it's worth leaving WN for)

“The grass is always greener” comes to mind. If you live in your domicile, drive to work and have less than five years in — maybe you might want to think about leaving if your desired prize is any early upgrade.

SW has a history of doing what it needs to do to succeed. This includes TA2, fuel hedging better than any of their competitors, hiring practices and much more. What a difference a year makes when it was widely believed that only SW and Delta might survive because of their cash position. Again, SW leadership did what it needed to do.

I am a realist who sees a half full glass. Our new leadership team will bring changes. I think the next two years will allow you to see the tea leaves of our future.

Personally - I live in base, drive to work and am in it for the long haul. I firmly believe SW is going to have to make some dramatic changes to draw the top talent they have in the past. At this moment in time - Delta would probably be my top choice if I was just coming to the majors. Five years ago it was Southwest. The pendulum will swing again and hopefully it will be back in our favor.