Amen!

Don't forget that you're probably dealing with people whose careers haven't been affected by trivial things such as the 'lost decade' and they just don't get it.

 

When are you quiting and going to Delta?

 

Lol. 😂😂😂😂😂

 

I hear y'all. When people hear where I live they ask why am I not at delta. Well cause delta never called, I like SW better and I'm planning on moving to a SW base.
I don't think people understand you can't just walk up to another airline and say I want to be in your November ground school. There are lots of very well qualified guys out there who still can't get a call from anyone. So to tell someone who is new to go to another airline when, like me, they've spent yrs just trying to get anyone to call is very ignorant and shows they have no idea what it's like in the real world.
Im happy here and plan to stay here why do I have to justify that with the people I work with?

 

Exact same reception I got when I arrived in the late 90s. They all finally shut up right after Sept 11.

 

I hear ya.
I live at a huge cargo operators domicile.
I get the same question.
Although there was a time that i thought that that brown airline was the hot chick at the party, they disqualified me without ever meeting me (hogan test).
SWA actually meets with you and gets to know you and I'm forever grateful for that.

I've always thought it was "funny" too that the people that are "too deep in the forest to see the trees" think that an individual can just show up at UAL's headquarters, e.g. and avow "i'm ready for class!"
Like it's THAT easy. GMAFB

 

I started applying to DL, UAL, SWA in Feb 2008. Bad timing on my part with age 65 and the economy. First one of the three to offer a interview was in Sept 2015. UAL offered a interview when I was already in class with SWA.

The longer I stayed at the regional, the more I branched out to applying to Virgin, US Air, Spirit, Alaska, JetBlue....not places that I would have stayed any longer than necessary until my top choices called. AirTran, Continental, and Northwest were all gone by that point....maybe could have backdoored a spot into the merged airlines and been more senior....who knows?

 

Same with me and UAL. Got Hogan'd. Not interested in reapplying now that I'm here.

I live in a large UAL base too. But Southwest also has a large base here and guess where I'm based.... I drive to work and do not commute. Can't beat that!

And all those who ask us why we aren't at Delta for example, I simply point out that given upgrade times there, it's not too late for them to go either...

 

Clever!
That'll silence 'em

 

Back in late 01 when I was getting close to my furlough date at US I asked the Captains I would fly with what they would do if the company shut its doors tomorrow.

The number who said, "I guess I would go to Southwest" was astonishing. Oh... You would just go? Just show up on Monday and they'll be holding the door open for you?

That's not the way the real world works. A lot of Pilots who have had careers free from speed bumps or who are at their first and only airline don't seem to get it. The ones at this airline are no exception.

This place wasn't my first choice either, but between relatively low PIC turbine time before 9/11 and the high quality of my competition during the the lost decade, this was one of the only places offering me a chance to get back into the 121 world. (Could've accepted a recall back in 07' but suffered a big case of the stupids and turned it down)