ZapBrannigan

Everyone who I know who has used Emerald Coast has nothing but good things to say. If you are former Military and this is your first interview, invest the money in some prep. Interviewing is a skill like any other. Proper preparation prevents poor performance.

e6bpilot

I was asked several tmaat style questions. Maybe just my interview team. The panel interview asked around 5 of them and it went around 45 minutes. The other two portions didn't ask any.

It is a few hundred dollars spent on a million dollar career. No matter who you interview with, you will be glad you did it. If you don't do it and dork up the interview, you will always be left wondering...

I know guys who have passed without it, but I am not that good and not that lucky.

Duke Beamer

Anybody have quality/credible info to answer this? Inquiring minds want to know...

Thanks!

Fuseplug

FWIW, I too have heard rumor of a January window. This is from a family friend (non-flyer type) who is close with someone in the PD. He offered to hand deliver my resume a few months ago and when following up recently was told of a possible January window.

It's second-hand word of mouth, so take it as such. Good luck!

Thunder1

I spoke with our chief of pilot hiring a few weeks ago and chances are you will see some late Spring/early Summer hiring. So if I were a betting man I'd expect the company to open the application window sometime in February. Bottom line: if you're looking to get on at SWA or any major airline for that matter; don't procrastinate on getting all your ducks in a row. Best of luck to everyone. 2015 should be a good year -- of course, unless there is some sort of nasty geo-political event that kills the golden goose.

Herkdrv

Great place to work but you guys do realize the upgrade times right now are closer to 20 years?

ZapBrannigan

While every pilot wants to upgrade, there are other factors to consider. Southwest is unique in its avoidance (thus far) of the typical legacy airline "hire till you furlough, furlough till you hire" model. There are ten domiciles so there is a good chance you could be based in or near where you live. (Especially if you like the west coast) First officers are well compensated. Scheduling flexibility is good, although not as good as carriers that staff more reserves and allow drops, splits, etc. Reserves have more days off per month than any other carrier. And, if you compare SW to other large network carriers it is one of the few with significant gaps in its route structure - most notably international but still room for domestic growth. So while today based on retirements alone the upgrade is 20 years, the reality is that companies either grow or die and SW has plenty of room to grow.

Twenty years is a lifetime in this business. Two decades ago it was 1994. TWA was still a massive, if financially struggling airline. USAir had hundreds of pilots who had been on furlough for four years. RJs had only recently started to show up in the US regional market still dominated by Dash 8s, Saab 340s, and an armada of 19 seaters including the B1900 and J31. There was no jetBlue and wouldn't been for another 4 years or so.... think of how the landscape has changed in our business over the last twenty years and you will realize that we have about a 3-5 year ability to forecast in this business. Anything beyond that is IMC. How many USAir furloughees (present company included) refused to accept recall because we assumed the airline was circling the drain in 2007? How many of us would have made the same decision had we realized that the airline would not only thrive, but that it would merge with American?

I'll bet a steak dinner that newhires at SW would be offered an upgrade in less than 20 years - although it'll probably be in OAK and most will bypass. ;-)

Guess my point is, too many variables to make that kind of wild prediction and one shouldn't base a career upon it. SW growth could explode in the next few years or the airline could implode under the weight of its own operation. All we can do is make the best decision we can (very few of us have the good fortune to choose between multiple major airline offers at the same time) and hope it works out.

I'll tell you this, there are a lot of guys like me that are around 20 years from retirement. I won't upgrade to some crazy commute just to sit reserve for my last five years. So if it does take that long I think that large swaths of the seniority list will be bypassing and hanging on to seniority in the right seat vs. the first upgrade. That alone will skew the numbers considerably.

WHACKMASTER

Amen Zap. You absolutely nailed it.

Stitches

A more accurate statement would be to say that the current jr SWA captain upgraded at 9.5 years (admittedly skewed lower by the AT integration).

The seniority calculator also says the bottom guy on the swa list will hit 50% in 2030 with zero growth. I'd say 15 years is a fairly conservative estimate for a new hire.

Holly

While all of the last posts are very true, I'll offer a different angle. With the caveat that not everyone will get called by the big three, if I was looking for a career today, wn would be my 3 rd or 4 th choice. Being an fo forever sucks. Let's be honest, most of us do not aspire to be fo s. Now that the industry has MAYBE stabilized and if age 65 holds, the legacies are by far a better choice with re to retirement, aircraft type, pilot retirements and upgrade.
Wn is great and I make good $, but for someone looking to make that final move, no longer choice # 1 for the majority.