Sadly, people voting with their feet is the only thing that will get their attention. Under 40-45 and you’d be aight moving over. Under 30 is a no-brainer. I’ll retire top 100 here…I’ll never see that anywhere else (assuming this place lasts that long).

 

If you have any seniority at all I'd be very hesitant to go to the bottom of another airline's seniority list in light of the chaotic geopolitics taking place right now. If we end up at war, our lack of long haul international might actually insulate us from the next downturn to some extent. Historically the Gulf wars and the 08 financial crisis all led to furloughs and bankruptcies. There's a lot of balls in the air right now around the world. A few thousand pilots below you might be the buffer you need to keep the paycheck coming in. If that happens displacements will be the least of our worries.

Go ahead and post your Eeyore pictures. I'm just saying be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.

 

Yea I am supposed to be within the top 200. But if we are the next Spirit, none of it matters.

 

Yea that’s a very fair assessment. Sure is tough though when United and Delta are printing money and everywhere else has so much seniority movement. I am on the cusp where if we had a larger furlough I’d be quite close.

It has been pretty interesting seeing what has happened over the last few years (Alaska buying Hawaiian, Spirit failing, hell even Allegiant buying Sun Country). I feel like SWA is slowly being choked out and we don’t have anywhere to go. With the momentum of the Big 3, how can we even continue to compete?

 

Always a gamble I guess. I know if I was under 35 I’d be putting apps out.

 

I just updated my apps and am heading to job fairs. I hear American does interviews on the spot.

 

Max gets grounded again (or LEAP engines need inspections like the Airbus P&W), then we’re the next Spirit because of single fleet. You never know…hard to look at a crappy QOL for years when you could keep driving to work by changing terminals in DEN (or LAX/PHX).

We haven’t hired in 2 years. Someone with less than 3 years seniority is at the bottom of the list, and furlough fodder no matter where they are. UAL/AA are hiring over 2k this year, and next year. We’re hiring 1600 before ‘28….maybe. With almost 600 displacements forecast…it might take longer than that to unwind the mess they caused.

 

Telling ya..at least get an app out to United. Sounds like you’d be a lot happier.

 

We re still in a good place. Positive changes will happen. Swa is a massive airline with 800+ airplanes. It’s not going anywhere. Got a good contract (according to the vote) and we ll fight for another good one when it s up for renewal.

resigning to start from zero sucks…I try to keep emotions out of this. I see the paycheck and minimum amount at time at work. resigning because another place has a shorter upgrade time is not a reasonable criteria when you got 3/4 years seniority. It ll affect your QOL.

The situation at swa will get fixed soon or later. Just like it did at ua and dl back in the days. Guys who left ship did not make the best call retrospectively.

Anyhow impossible to predict the future. There is no logic to it. Swa was the most successful financially and now re in turbulence.

Swa is not the next spirit. Scale is not the same.

 

Holy hyperbole. I am not diminishing the very real situation to each individual displaced and commuting from a base, but come on…

We are getting ready to enter a period of sustained hiring and upgrades that is going to add a significant number of pilots to the seniority list. Those of us who have been here during previous periods of stagnation know that seniority progression (and all it entails like holding the seat you want) is not a straight line. Here recently, it has gotten a lot more jagged, but by this time next year, all will be right in the world barring some sort of major calamity.

A junior west coast captain bailing? No effing way. Why anyone with more than a year or two would leave here to get on the back side of the hiring boom somewhere else is truly beyond me. I get it, it’s APC and we are all going to burn this place to the ground, but let’s be real. Someone with greater than 2 years here would have to have a very compelling reason to leave.