Voski

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some current info on Southwest's Midway base as an outsider looking in:

1. What are the quality of the trips? Amount of flying, rough % breakdown of 1, 2, 3, 4-day trips, variety of flying options, etc.?
2. How senior of a base is MDW -- First Officer & Captain -- as of today? I know this is likely dynamic, especially with all the hiring planned, but curious how it's trending.
3. What are some of the "pros" of the base?
4. What are some of the "cons" of the base?
5. With ORD flying since COVID, has there been any talks of ORD as a co-base / domicile?

Thank you!

Proximity

All Southwest trips are basically the same. 2-4 legs per day, with your seniority deciding your start day and if it's AM/PM. 1/2/3/4 day paring mix in MDW next month is approx. 5/10/65/20%. You won't even be close to being awarded turns MDW unless you are top 2-3% in base...that's 5% of the pairings are turns, but most are loaded in a handful of lines. You'll upgrade long before you can touch turns.

MDW is not especially senior. On occasion it's been awarded to new hires. Captain it is slightly more senior than other non-ETOPS bases like HOU and LAS. MDW is basically "full" in that the airport cannot support more flights so it likely will not grow. The seniority picture will likely change before a new hire is close to upgrading.

Pros...I guess it's a good base for commuting...walk to crashpad and good mix of commuter hotels. You also have ORD as an option to commute which isn't so bad now AA/UA are up gauging more and more. It's also good for those who live in base and want to pick up, since it is a commuter base there are more open time opportunities.

No to co-bases, hopefully will never happen.

flyguy81

MDW is one of the largest bases. Healthy mix..mostly 3 days with approx split of 2 & 4 days with day trips bringing up the rear.

New hires should be able to hold it within a few months. CA is a guess…upgrades will come down as hiring ramps up but due to Covid it’s 12+ yrs now.

It’s Chicago…whether that’s a pro or a con is up to you. I hate Chicago and Illinois in general so I avoid it like the plague. But if it’s a short commute or you live there…I’m sure you’ll like it just fine.

We don’t have co-bases. Not allowed under the current CBA and I’m not voting to allow it.

Voski

Thank you, flyguy81 & Proximity — very helpful.

I would be living in-base, so it sounds like Midway is actually a really great option. The fact that it’s largely a commuter base actually sounds like it’s a great deal for living local as there’s more options to pickup or use ELITT.

flyguy81

You can work as much as you want living in base. Lots of short notice stuff that commuters can’t get to.

rightseat

Ding Ding Ding - “I would be living in base” are the magic words. You will be a happy camper! Living in base at any airline is good, but at Southwest, it is gold!! Literally. Work as much or as little as you want and there will always be more opportunity.

With that said, why anyone would voluntarily live in Illinois is beyond me. I was a citizen of Illinois for more than 20 years. The day I stopped paying taxes in Illinois was a better feeling than the day I sold my boat!

#colormetexas

Urine Trouble

and with the $100k he stopped paying to Lightfoot, he bought another boat!

saab2000

I live in base for MDW, in Illinois. I was told I would hate it. I don't. I drive about 35 minutes to work. There are options for living in Indiana (or Wisconsin) if that's your thing but it's not mine. I like Chicago and all it has to offer and I love living in domicile. If you plan to commute from BNA, MSP, STL or MCI expect a stressful commute. The supposed negatives of living in Chicagoland are peanuts compared to commuting, at least for me. Everyone's got to make their own decision as we're all adults, but I've been pleased with my decision to move here. I bought an FO-priced townhouse and expect to live in it until I leave SWA, latest 10 years from now.

I'm glad I made my own decision rather than listen to the folks who dislike the area. They have their reasons and that's fine. Turns out I like it here. It's a pretty good place to live and if you live in the suburbs (I do) the schools are quite good and the municipality is quite nice and functional and I'm only a 45 minute METRA train ride from downtown Chicago when I want city life. Yes, Cook County and the City of Chicago have some issues but overall I've found it to be a pretty good place to be. Obviously, winter is winter and every year I confess to liking it a lot less. I've flown with others who live here and like it was well, so I'm not alone in these sentiments. Some live out in the burbs like I do and some are in the city.

The airport itself is interesting and unfortunately has few (any?) good food options. I know that's the case all over right now but even pre-COVID it wasn't great. Big improvements needed on the food front so take that for what it's worth.

As mentioned, no co-domicile with ORD and it would take a big offer from the company in negotiations to get me to sign on with that. It'd be like adding BUR, LGB, SNA, etc. to the LAX base or SFO and SJC to the OAK base or DCA and IAD to BWI. Ain't happening anytime soon I hope.

Everyone's got to make their own decisions and I made mine and have found life here to be pretty good, contrary to what I was told. Just offering that up as a counterpoint. Any extra taxes I pay are offset by the fact that I'm not spending $700+ monthly on my old commute situation driving in from Michigan and I have at least 3-4 more nights per month at home.

As said above, most SWA trips are pretty similar. AMs or PMs. Seniority dictates what days you'll be able to hold. I generally like 3-day trips because as someone said recently to me on a 4-day, "4-day trips are twice as exhausting as a 3-day, maybe more so." I agree with this. I don't mind working weekends and work AMs exclusively, so I get my top bids usually.

tanker

Never say never to co-domiciles. In the 1994 CBA one of the first Side Letters, shortly after OAK became a base, was a Side Letter that allowed OAK, SFO, and SJC to be a co-domicile. The side letter even had TFP for ground transportation to get a pilot back to the city where the pairing originated if it terminated in another city (ie. if it originated in OAK but terminated in SJC). For some reason, known only to management, during the entire duration of that CBA (well over 10 years) that side letter was never implemented.

RJSAviator76

You can really make great money if you live in a large base. Really good money. Learn how the OT works and know the contract.