Originally Posted by Lewbronski

The SWAPA BOD would have to approve the sending of any TA to the membership. Even I, a SWAPA skeptic, don’t think the SWAPA BOD would be dumb enough to do that before the SAV.

Remember, FH is advising all of the airlines on their negotiations. They were advising both Alaska and Delta how to proceed in the face of their respective pilot groups’ SAV’s. My guess is that FH will advise SWA management to proceed similarly in response to our SAV because the strategy worked at both Alaska and Delta.

If the pattern is repeated, we can expect to see a TA sometime during the summer or early fall. At Alaska, their TA arrived approximately 3.5 months after their SAV. At Delta, their TA came about 2.5 months after their SAV.

SWA will likely leverage our pilot group’s lack of understanding of how much leverage a SAV gives us (thinking we have more leverage than we do as a result of the SAV) by offering a TA with what appears to be some significant wins (but lacking many items which our pilot group is entirely capable of achieving if we’re patient).

Because we don’t understand the process well at all, we will feel like we’ve got the company on the run with our SAV. We won’t. Not yet. That time will come but not as a result of the SAV (though the SAV is necessary).

Think of a TA offered during this time as a trap. The short-term money attached to it will serve as the cheese that lures us in with its promise of a (very temporary) alleviation of the hunger of our inflation woes and our negotiation fatigue. But if we take the bait, it will inevitably fail to satisfy us.

We will truly have the company on the run when the credible threat of a strike becomes very real to management. That does not begin to become truly feasible (though not impossible) until we realistically might get released from mediation. And that does not happen until we have surpassed the average amount of time in mediation of all mediation cases currently before the NMB. This is why it is and was so critical to file for mediation earlier rather than later and why it was a pretty colossal ******* up on the part of SWAPA to wait so long to file for mediation.

But we can’t change the past. The RLA is a purposely long and drawn out process. The more patient and informed party has the advantage. It sucks that we waited about a year too long to file for mediation. But we can still get to a release. However, we can’t get there if we fall into FH’s and the company’s trap before our leverage begins to accelerate off the charts.

Originally Posted by Hobbit64

I can't speak to other airlines *now*, but there was a time not very long ago where most airlines would not even consider RW time. I was told when I was pestering SWA recruiters that I 'was only a 4,000 hour pilot'. My resume had over 7,000 hours of which 3,000 hours were rotorcraft time. Eh... ok. Wrong headed IMHO, but I won't ever be King.

I don't see the RW restriction on our current FO job posting. Maybe there's been a change in the hiring department's attitude. And hopefully, the first stop on their scan of resumes is at the FW column to make sure the applicant has a requisite amount/quality of FW turbine time in high performance aircraft. I am a firm believer that a good amount of high performance, turbine FW experience is absolutely necessary. And, I don't mean C-310 time.

To Symbian's point, yes. Multi Crew, large aircraft, down low (really low) with restricted visual cues/input in a stressful & high workload mission, making Pew-Pew decisions was much more demanding than teaching someone in C-152. Both were scary at times, but the Cessna only had one person desperately trying to kill me. (maybe I *am* an a--h0le, people were trying to kill me a lot in my youth) But it did nothing for developing an understanding or appreciation for FW high altitude, swept wing aerodynamics. Throw in a finicky (beta version) VNAV with a slick plane that has much more mass and can either 'Go down' or 'Slow Down' (but not both) with a 130kt tailwind. The Captains have enough on their plate.

My question, and I am most definitely under-qualified to determine this, is what constitutes the "requisite amount/quality of FW turbine time in high performance aircraft"?

A stop at the regionals for 121 initiation for all that entails, and high performance FW experience is a good thing. Not fun per se, but good long term for both the individual and the folks coming behind with RW on their resume.
I can't tell you how angry I was to sit through SWA indoc small group training session with a tool instructor that went on a diatribe wasting about 10+ minutes speaking to how poor he thought RW pilot were. Biggest D.B. I've met at SWA. The experience only added pressure to never give the SoB or his ilk the satisfaction again.
/Rant Switch Cold

Originally Posted by calmemployment

The hits keep coming for Southwest. Allegiant, Alaska, Delta, Hawaiian, United, and Spirit are all ganging up on Southwest. Along with the three front war going on — battling employees, customers, and media.

SWA F’d around and found out.

Originally Posted by Psycho18th

It comes down to quality decision making experience and basic airmanship. When I was hired not that long ago, the civilians in my class had 10’s of thousands of hours, many with years of experience as RJ captains, DO’s of flight departments with worldwide operations, etc. Prior, they were flying single pilot night IFR freight through the mountains or into busy east coast airports. The heavy mil guys had the same times/experience. I was one of the couple pointy airplane guys but had 20 years at it before getting here. Every person in that class could make sound decisions, communicate with a crew, and hand fly a broken airplane without blinking an eye. That’s how you avoid MCAS crashes, Flying yourself out of gas, into the water, or off the side of a slick runway. Does 10k hours watching movies on your iPad riding long haul and landing twice a month make you better at this than high threat helo-ing, or droning in a 172, or piloting a single seat fighter? I don’t know, but what’s worked in the past seemed to work. I doubt anyone in the people department knows or cares as long as they fill seats, and that’s what’s concerning.

Originally Posted by David Puddy

Should have ordered the A220 too….