Few questions
 

I am a regional captain and considering southwest but have a few questions. First of all, what are the overnights typically like at SWA? One of my biggest gripes in the regional life is doing nyc and Boston overnights what seems like every night. Does SW have decent variety (west coast for east coast based pilots, mainly interested in the BWI base fyi)

is the contract friendly to people who drive to work but would be outside of the 2 hour call? I’m ok occasionally driving to be within the reserve call but would like relatively friendly reserve rules.

lastly , is there any talk as to when a new contract will be coming and what the pay rates and work rules will look like ?

thanks

Overnights range from 13-20 hrs. Avg around 14-16.

Some months you might see the same cities a lot and then you won’t see them again for months. You can easily swap out of trips with overnights you don’t like. They try and limit fatigue issues with east/west coast people going cross country and messing with circadian rhythms (I don’t see SJU in the bid pack anymore as a left coaster)

You need to be within 2 hrs for rsv. You’ll get the short notice callout and they’ll expect you to be there 2 hrs from callout. Rsv shouldn’t last long though depending where you live.

As far as a new contract…they’ll have to settle sooner rather than later with the DL deal and UAL/AA finishing negotiations. I’d guess we’ll see a TA by Fall…whether it’s ratifiable or not is debatable. Rather will be line with DL 737 rates at a minimum….I want 767 or better.

So being bwi based you wouldn’t see AZ or CA overnights often ?

I think the issue was east coasters doing PM’s with west overnights and west coasters doing east coast AM’s.

You’d have to ask a BWI guy what overnights they see a lot of. As a a DEN guy I can bid east coast or west coast overnights but I only do PM’s.

Since I’ve been BWI based I haven’t flown west of PHX and never overnighted west of Denver. But this may change since we’re supposed to be bringing more transcon flights out of BWI back

MCO west coast overnights tend to happen day 2/3 of a 3 day making you get back around 4-6PM which sucks. So they tend to not be desirable. But some don't care, and just want a BUR overnight or get shot at in OAK. Midwest bases have more variety, but you'll get everything at every base ETOPS not withstanding.

I'd say the average overnight, in my experience, is closer to 14 hrs.

I don't think it's easy to swap out of trips with overnights I don't like unless flyguy81 means, "You can easily swap out of trip with overnights you don't like for other trips with something equally or more undesirable about them." Then I'd agree with him. I can easily ELITT out of an ELP or SMF Arden West or HOU overnight for another trip with a not-as-bad overnight but pays sub-rig or flies 5 legs per day for a couple of the days in the trip or has 11-hour duty days or something along those lines. Yes, that is pretty easy to do.

And, as far as a new contract goes, I wouldn't be surprised to see a turd TA drop before May 1 given the latest NC update we just received today. It then wouldn't surprise me if we ratify the turd TA before the beginning of summer. And, if that happens, I would fully expect full-on buyer's remorse to commence mid-2024.

This month I traded off some day trips for high time 2 days and a AUS/SMF/SMF 4 day for a SAN/BNA/MKE with long overnights.

Fully expecting garbage trips in a couple months after upgrading. Enjoying being 15% while it lasts.
Next month my schedule is garbage if I actually have to work it as published….only bid it for low block so I could load the board for UPG training.

Thanks everybody, and as far as the quality of hotels, is it comparable to regional quality or slightly better? Do they throw you downtown periodically or is it mostly airport holiday inns?

Although there is very limited language governing hotels in the CBA, there is a requirement that hotels have an on site restaurant and gym. That eliminates Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn Express except possibly during IROPS.

There are hotels downtown in cities like NYC, PHL, SAN and more. (Oddly others, like SFO offer only airport properties).

The CURRENT CBA doesn’t have long/short overnight language so sometimes you might find yourself at a downtown hotel on a 13 hour overnight or an airport hotel for a 20 hour overnight. Thankfully, most of the “hotel in an industrial/business park” locations have been done away with.

One last thing. At every other airline I’ve ever worked for -commuters included- the hotel for a trip was listed IN THE BID PACKET! So you would know if you are bidding for a line, which hotel you are going to get if you are awarded that line. Not at SWA.

Hotels are not assigned until several weeks AFTER lines are awarded. So you bid that 22 hour LGA overnight and plan to bring your spouse thinking you’ll be staying downtown, and could just as likely find yourself with 22 hours across the street from the terminal. Food for thought.