walkerpiercejen

Would anyone from Southwest mind providing a basic idea of what the lines look like each month ? I realize they may vary base to base and I've heard the majority of the lines consist of efficient 3-day trips. And given that.....

I've also read the CBA about the pairing mix percentages ( 1 days - 5% min / 2 days - 5% min / etc.).

So what's a rough breakdown of the monthly lines ? Are there lines consisting of wholly day trips ? Day trips mixed with 2 days ? 2 days & 3 days ?

You get the idea. Thanks for taking the time.

Kdog18

It's all over the place and my van time is in a little bit, but here goes: (caveat, I don't have the rules in front of me, so just giving you what I see when I bid)

There will be a couple lines with a bunch of turns or 2-days. I think I saw a line with 9 turns and a 3 day out of LAS for DEC.

We generally have pure pm or am lines. Blank lines (vacation/military/sick drop) can and usually are mixed, may even have a reserve pairing mixed in for good measure. For whatever reason, our PMs tend to turn am through ORF. Not sure why, may have something to do with the wallpaper on the ceiling. Sorry, internal joke. However, these trips tend to be commutable for our PMers, gotta love that smokey Waffle House!

AM lines generally pay more but have more time off. The best lines with max days off are always AMs. PMs can be commutable though.

Dec max days off is 20 days off, am line. 19 for the pms. LAS Dec avg pay 97 tfp / 17.8 days off.

Usually your lines are 3 on / 4 off or 4 on / 3 off. The latter usually leads to a chunk of time off on the front or back side of the month. These lines always start and end on the same days, good if you have a hard schedule at home - kiddos, wifey works, .... Sometimes you have a 2-day or turn tossed into the above lines. Just means you have to give it away or trade it.

I say "usually" above, because you will see about a dozen lines with weeks off throughout the month. Or mixed 3-, 4- turn 2-day lines. These lines are usually minimal and are probably made to meet contractual requirements.

Trip trade / give-away is great, ELITT is good for about a minute after it opens, then again about 2 in the morning when all the pmers get to the hotel that night.

Hope you get a better feel. gotta go.

-k

WHACKMASTER

Thanks for the info Kdog! When you get a chance, a few quick questions:

1. Do lines vary much between bases (productivity, days off, etc)

2. How do your bases stack up from most senior to junior for Cptns.

Grassy ass, amigo.

LuvJockey

VERY quick answer-

Does not vary much between bases or seat position - contractual.

Approximate base variation (varies by seat) most senior to junior

Dallas
Houston
Orlando
Phoenix
Baltimore/Chicago/Oakland/Las Vegas

Somebody will have a problem with my order, but that's my take.

Kdog18

LJ seems to have it about right. See if this comes out (December 1st round lines; the 2nd round is our blank lines, mostly vacation / military / sick lines built into lines):

BASE * AVG * CAP * AVG OFF MAX LN
BWI CA 97.50 115.05 17.62 109.35
BWI FO 97.50 115.05 17.62 109.35

DAL CA 96.52 113.89 17.48 107.1
DAL FO 96.52 113.89 17.48 107.1

HOU CA 96.08 113.37 17.47 106.5
HOU FO 96.08 113.37 17.47 106.5

LAS CA 96.73 114.14 17.83 110.1
LAS FO 96.73 114.14 17.83 110.1

MCO CA 96.73 114.14 17.37 106.5
MCO FO 96.73 114.14 17.37 106.5

MDW CA 97.13 114.61 17.48 107.85
MDW FO 97.13 114.61 17.48 107.85

OAK CA 96.28 113.61 17.72 108.75
OAK FO 96.28 113.61 17.72 108.75

PHX CA 97.50 115.05 17.45 107.85
PHX FO 97.50 115.05 17.45 107.85

Layman verse of the above: Base / seat are obvious. Avg is average pay per line. Cap has to do with open time limits (maybe someone can tighten me up wrt to this; the way I understand it, if you have more than the cap [of flying] then open time goes to the next senior guy below the cap. Off is average days off. Max is max line pay.

The above info probably does not answer you question per se. Base trips are about the same, like LJ said above.

WHACKMASTER

Wow. I'm simply floored at the productivity. I know that all those credits are in TFP, but still.....

Does the avg TFP fluctuate much throughout the year? If so, how much does it dip during the slow travel months?

Thanks.

walkerpiercejen

thank you both for the info. it helps to do a little planning and setting expectations.

i have three boys (6 / 3 / 1) and the coaching/practices are just arriving. sounds like the flexibility built into the trades/gives/drops rewards both seniority in the seat & perseverance on the computer ?

we usually have two to five turn lines (ATL-PHX & ATL-SJU, etc). does SWA have a few of the same for the long-hauls/trans-cons or do they end up in the 3 days ?

thanks again for filling in the knowledge gaps. helps to make some decisions that have to be made in the next few days.

paxhauler85

To give some order to the last four:

Baltimore
Chicago
Vegas
Oakland

Its not far off for either seat. LAS might be the most junior for CAs, but as someone else said, nowhere is overwhelmingly junior.

Kdog18

The "junior" base changes slightly (when we were growing). Dunno, maybe folks moving to base, ..., been pretty consistent lately.

Any MCO guys corroborate this, but I understand MCO base fluctuates the most, prolly something to do with Mickey (talking vacancies here). Bit tough when you are the most junior guys on the list here (a lot of displacements - but the company picks up many of your hotel tabs).

Regarding monthly productivity #s, pretty consistent across the year. February is a bit tough to get "your TFP number." Both being a short month and the guys who took December off, paying for the Holidays, ..., needing to pay their bills (alas, less give-aways, senior dudes bidding on OT, ...). Summers are huge VJA months. If you want / can work whenever, 150 tfp is probably normal. Seriously. For those of us with lives / kids, std rules apply. I could give you examples, but you'll see when you get here. The AMT sucks.

I've been coaching my kids for years. To be honest, sometimes it's difficult to meet every obligation. I do make every game, but occasionally, I have to have an assistant coach run a practice or two (but these occurrences have to do with getting a holiday off, birthday, anniversary, ...).

I know this website posts our pay "normalized" to an hourly rate. I'm sure there is a good place where they get the 1.13 factor. However, the factor is probably closer to 17% as there are a lot of lines better than a 20% factor. Here is our tfp pay scale: (eg., a LAS Dec line pays 1.27 tfp / block; blocks 70, pays 90)

Current Pay Rates (10/21/10)
Pay Year Captain First Officer
1 $163.98 $49.19
2 $165.97 $82.99
3 $168.00 $92.40
4 $169.99 $101.99
5 $171.88 $111.72
6 $174.02 $116.60
7 $176.03 $119.70
8 $178.03 $122.84
9 $180.04 $124.23
10 $182.04 $127.43
11 $184.06 $128.84
12 $186.06 $130.24

Our FO pay is a % of Captain's pay. Tops out at 70% at year 10. You can run the #s if you are interested with the above chart. To continue the LAS line example above comes to $239/block (12-yr CA); $167/block (12-yr FO). Additionally, this line example has huge potential to pick up additional flying.

Walker, sorry about the late answer. Similar turn line development (maybe a few less). Difficult to build a lot of turn lines with our productivity #s. You can fly months with only long haul. I've done 4 days that had 8 legs (for an entire month). Also done 2 leg 2-days. I don't know what CDOs are, but we don't have red-eyes. It's in our contract for a re-opener if the company decides to try them (I think). I've been told by many that the company simply can not fly our planes anymore than they already do (for maintenance, ...).

Sorry if I was all over the place. Going to the hotel gym!

LuvJockey

Nice avatar, paxhauler - please feel free to post the full size version.