The amount of flights that DEN does hasn’t changed all that much. It’s RON’s that’s changed. It’s the largest base with the most flights of any city SWA flies. It has about 10% more flying than LAS. Yet LAS has on average 3 more RON’s. LAS, BWI, DAL have just more EMO’s which creates more RON’s. DEN is more of a hub and spoke for SWA. They treated it as another p2p operation which didn’t work or didn’t meet their expectations. So now they intentionally bank some flights. DEN will still be the biggest base for quite some time. Their is not a single domicile that has more space, more availability of gates and expansion than DEN. SWA is no where near max capacity there. The big question is what is the hiring going to look like over the next twelve months. With Boeing being allowed to increase production on the Max’s, SWA will be the biggest beneficiary next year of airplane deliveries. Question is how many deliveries next year and how many retirements will SWA do. We won’t know until end of January when they report earnings. Since the summer schedule is available for sale, it looks like the fleet will not change all that much. Even though piloting staffing is more of function of the CBA.

 

Agree that displacements will take a while to unwind. However, it is so much more complex than saying DEN is -200 so 200 vacancies have to be created in Denver. That is simply not true. Over 40 percent of that base commutes and at least half of them have multiple options to be based in. Every pilot that bids out of Denver creates a vacancy. Some of the displaced have given up, moved, gotten hired other places, etc. Some displaced pilots are taking up a spot in DEN. I am not saying this to be heartless, but Denver headcount probably isn't going to grow in any appreciable amount any time soon just because of what REF said. It is a hub and spoke connector station. The writing is on the wall.

Full disclosure, I used to be a DEN based commuter and decided to bid out on my own terms rather than get forced into an untenable seniority situation. I am not the only one. After a while, the hotel situation and very disrupted commuting situation gets old. When I had good seniority there, it didn't matter as much. Now it does. I just wish I would have left earlier rather than holding on.

You are going to find that in between contract cycles especially, there are a lot of us that show up to work and go home and cash the checks and simply don't care about other people's problems. It's unfortunate. The ATL messaging was driven by the company and more specifically by MS who has a soft spot for ATL. DEN got the shaft and got no love.

In the end, hiring is going to fix all of this. If we were hiring right now, nobody would care because when you throw bodies at the manning puzzle, there's nothing to complain about. The company chose to do this during a prolonged zero hiring period and now they get to own the unintended consequences. I predict in a year, if we hire an appreciable amount, this won't be an issue at all.

 

Totally agree, and this is undoubtedly a company problem, not the union. They chose to move everyone around with zero hiring, but now that they have shown they are willing to do it, we need to address it in a future contract.

 

Easy answer to that: “No monthly vacancy bids will occur without a positive vacancy. No base displacements will occur during months with no vacancy bids. Only displaced pilots may enter a base until everyone has exercised DRR”.

 

Maybe they could just do TDY’s like other airlines do. I don’t understand what’s going on at SWA, they are becoming a hub and spoke airline, but only in Denver? Passengers in Denver don’t like early morning flights but they do in other bases and cities? Can only man red eyes from the east? Crew planning displaces out of Denver yet somehow has 100 more first officers then Captains? Something is amiss.

 

Something is a mess.

 

idk man, if i was playikg the game i would create a problem like say displacements so you have a bargining chip for when you want something like say scope relief.
but I dint know if they are that smart or forward thinking.
I think it's more of someone who just goes about their day with no consequences and no thought of anyone.
Remember pilot's QOL is of no importance to the company.

 

Don’t restrict pilots because of company incompetence.


Make them TDY people, pay bonuses, pay hotels, dh lines, etc.


This problem was created by the company, so they should pay the price of the shifts.



.

 

Are you saying Denver has more FO's than Captains currently? I've seen this twice. The current vacancy has 80+ captains than FO's in Denver but I am assuming you are saying more FO's were displaced out of DEN than captains. None of it makes any sense.

 

I’m saying someone shouldn’t be allowed to be awarded a base because their summer home is there if there’s people displaced out of that base.

I’d be 1000% for TDY lines with paid dhd/hotels and nonstop per diem be offered prior to any displacement. Make it hurt and they won’t do it.

We have no language for any of it so they just do what they want because who cares…they get to sleep in their bed every night.