I wasn't aware anyone was tracking the stat of average upgrade. You can definitely stay a FO here and make a killing in the right seat if you are super senior and live in base. I don't think I realized how salty I was getting and how sick I was of being in the right seat until I decided to Lance. It's amazing how your attitude can change by moving over 4 feet. I flew one last FO duty period at the end of my Lance period after about 6 months of nothing but captain flying and flew with one of the biggest d1ckhead captains in HOU, very high on the avoid list. He was a condescending ass to me the entire time and made sure to let me and everyone else know he was on premium. It was a fitting end to a long time in the right seat and cemented my decision to just upgrade fully and not bid back.
I already commute, so earliest available was a no brainer to me. If I lived in base, I wouldn't commute to upgrade any longer than a few months. Other than that, it's totally worth it for the mental health break if nothing else.

Nothing against the D225 hires personally, but I find it ridiculous that they are the only people that Dallas will bring on board right now. Southwest won’t even give the time of day to military aviators or anyone else with tons of experience. Now will Dallas bring on board the 300 people they already gave CJOs too. Instead, their only interest is people with the absolute minimum experience. They could at least split it 50/50 with D225 and those with much higher experience levels.

I was hired in the 90's and SWA was the only airline that didn't do a simulator evaluation during the interview. They did require that you have an ATP with a 737type, how you obtained the type they didn't care.
Maybe SWA should bring back the type requirement because at least then you know that they can fly a 737.

Amen. I never understood the sim evals going away. If you’re interviewing pilots, why not check their basic flying skills? You know…..that thing you’re actually hiring them to do.

I think it was more keeping their word to the people, many of whom are children of line pilots or former employees themselves, who have shelled out over 100k to have the honor of working here. They didn't need those pilots and wouldn't be hiring at all if they didn't decide to take them. Despite agreeing with most of what you said, I actually appreciate that they honored their commitment. They could have easily pulled the plug and ruined the program forever.

I really haven't run into basic stick and rudder being the issue at all. The very few weak pilots that I have flown with have either been captains who do weird, nonstandard stuff or FOs who don't have the requisite judgment and experience level coupled with a lack of self awareness that they are lacking in that department. They are certainly the exception and not the rule. I can generally work with the latter, the former are pretty much beyond saving.

Ive had two that lacked stick and rudder in a noticeable fashion. Also notable is that they weren’t 225 people.

Anyone remember the American Eagle Astronaut Interview back in 1999? There was a tech panel which quizzed charts etc, a cognitive skills computer test, an HR panel and then a sim eval in a KC-135 sim! We had some time to memorize the list of callouts they had and then did the profile. For me it was intimidating but I got the job—pending the astronaut physical after that!

I've flown with several D225 folks and have had zero issues. They were all ready to learn and they all actively solicited feedback after each leg and at the end of the trip. I was able to throw out a few pointers here and there, but at no point did I have to "fly their jet." I did notice I had to drag it out of them that they were D225 (the employee number was the first big hint). I don't know if there is a reputation on the line, but like I said, I've had nothing but good experiences so far with the D225'ers.

Now the 8-year organic hires who've completely checked out? That's a whole other story. I just hope I never came off that way before I went back to Dallas.

That first group are slowly retiring or medicaling out thank god. The good shlt squad buddies are are pure disasters to fly with and are the single most “upgrade decision” flights here.

I have flown with a couple of them too. One recent one was senior to me and spent the better part of a 2 hour leg explaining why he hasn't upgraded. I was like dude I get it. Then he started flexing his senior FO schedule and vacations on me and I showed him that I flew basically the exact same schedule and had the vacations I wanted. Finally he turned off the ICS so we could fly in peace.