I'll write the final chapter tho...the fired FO is now a SWA captain and Waltz is off the property. Good riddance.

my guess is that life back on the line for him was pretty miserable and needed to change something. Hopefully he finds a spine on his way to MSP.

 

BOD Statement On the VP of Flight Ops (swapa.org)

 

Idk what "SJO" stands for, but it sounds like an FA wrote up an FO and CA BW drove the bus over then put it in reverse and backed up over the FO while giving lip service that the matter would be handled and the FO would keep his job?

 

It wasn't SJO, it was SJC.
I doubt anyone here including me knows exactly what went down with that whole situation. I would be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He did quit the vp gig and go back to the line right when they announced the pilot was being terminated. May have been in protest. I don't honestly know and neither does anyone else here.

 

I’ll write out the details when I get a chance and yes, it was San Jose, CA.

 

Wrong San Jose.... It was at SJC.

The story I heard goes as follows and supposedly all was captured on CC camera. The FO was enjoying his beer in peace. Some male FA was harranguing him over the mask. The FO was ignoring the FA. The FA left. Came back 20 minutes later and got really close to the FO... when the FO turned around, the FA was literally in his face with provoking and threatening body language, so he did what any normal person who was startled by how close someone was in his face would do which was push away the flight attendant who apparently clumsily fell. Well, that was the "assault on the flight attendant."

The police was called and they refused to press charges because it was obvious that the FO was minding his own business and did not provoke any of this. But that didn't stop the company from firing the FO and the former pilot who now works at SWA Legal apparently called it "clean kill."

SWAPA tried to get the FO's job back. Bob Waltz promised SWAPA the FO will be back. SWA Legal headed by the former pilot said no. Bob turned and told SWAPA that the FO wasn't coming back despite SWA Legal having seen the video exonerating the FO. Bob cowardly accepted that. SWAPA didn't.

Had Bob gone to the SWA Legal and said "This is my department. This FO is getting his job back, or you can look for another VP of Flight Ops", had he gotten fired from VP of Flight Ops, he would have received a hero's welcome back to the line and would have never paid for another drink. Instead, he sold out, and then ultimately got axed anyway and came back to the line. The FO eventually came back on the line and Bob had to live with not standing up for one of his own.

He applied to be a check airman, didn't get it. Essentially, he was gonna ride out the rest of his career as a line pilot, and that's just not enough for Bob.

To me, Bob is an example of what not to do if you're a leader.

 

Whoa…..wait. Who’s the former pilot that’s SWA legal now?!

 

Are you sure he quit at that time? Thought he left much later?

 

ibelieve it was within a matter of months that he went back to the line.