QOL question
 

Does southwest offer zero credit line bids? Could you hypothetically go and bid down to nothing and take a month off? Trying to figure out what places have best options for QOL currently sitting left seat in an RJ.

No zero credit lines ,but you can try and give away all your trips. Some give them all away, others have minimum luck .

No zero credit lines as previously mentioned. Also, you cannot just drop trips as someone else has to pick them up. You can either give them away to another pilot or trade with the conpany’s pot of trips.

You need some seniority in seat to be able to bid and be awarded trips that others would actually want to pick up from you though.

Having said all that the schedule flexibility can be great if you put in a little time to “work it”. It’s even better in larger domiciles like DEN, BWI, etc. as there’s more flying to choose from.

As already been stated, you can't really drop to zero until you get pretty senior and can hold trips that everyone else wants. There is not any rules here that state you have to fly XX amount per month. With that being said, don't expect to be able to clear your schedule with any regularity.

On the plus side though, we have some of the best schedule flexibility in the industry. Even junior pilots that are 90% in base, as long as they are not on reserve, have incredibly flexibility to rearrange their schedule.

Standard line is around 13 days a month. Pretty easy to get that down to 11 or 12 days a month with some creative trades. Reserve is typically 15 days a month, less flexibility for now, more flexibility coming later this year.

Just to add a data point. I am a 2+ year FO and have cleared my schedule every month since I started trying in June of 2024. Does take some work but can absolutely be done with some effort. As you get more senior, it takes less work to clear, but can still be done when you're fairly junior. I cannot stress enough how great the QOL can be here. If you love 4 leg days, you can do them here. If you want 1 or 2 leg days, you can do those, too. Traditional line bidding and ELITT are what made me stay here. I'm pretty lazy... my 2024 average was 38 block/~130 TFP and 6 months were spent commuting (so basically no reserve).

Polar opposite: I live in base, bid rsv and don’t give away anything. I pick up on days off if they don’t use me. My avg last year was 58 block/154 tfp a month.

Who do you work for ? It can't be SWA, all the WN pilots I know fly 9 legs a day between AMA- MAF-LBB

9.5 yrs here and I have yet to overnight in MAF. Haven’t ever flown into CRP or HRL here either.

If you’re senior where you are I would stay. Although there is flexibility to change your schedule at SW it’s better to be senior getting what you want than junior with flexibility imho. It’s taken me well over 20 years to hold monthly schedules I want and I still can’t get what I want first round vacation bid. Seniority progression grinds to a serious halt once you upgrade here. It’s generally a young pilot group too vs legacy carriers so the retirements aren’t as numerous. It is a moot point right now though because there is not going to be off the street hiring for awhile.

That is precisely why I don't intend to upgrade anywhere close to when I could hold it. However, that sentiment may change after a few more years.