Otterbox

A lot of it is money… 737 FO pay doesn’t hold a torch to what 50 seat RJ captains ($213/hr, $427/hr as LCA) are getting paid. With upgrades at SWA taking over a decade in many desired locations, they don’t see the pay cut as something they can recover from quickly enough to take.

ZapBrannigan

I agree. A stepping stone airline is cheaper and is the only thing that will drive the upgrade time down, resulting in more pilots willing to use it as a stepping stone.

Lewbronski

Yes, but DO NOT fall prey to the mistaken belief that the SAV will significantly improve our leverage in the short term. It’s an important and necessary step toward building leverage, but there is much, much more leverage to come by exhibiting patience and pushing toward a release from mediation.

Both Alaska and Delta could have achieved significantly more in their contracts if they had not stopped pushing shortly after their SAV’s.

My prediction is that management, within a few months of the SAV, will attempt to capitalize on SWA pilots’ erroneous idea that our leverage has reached a crescendo as a result of the SAV and will hit us with a short-term money-laden TA lacking many items we could otherwise achieve. SWAPA will sell it as industry-leading in some respects. And it might be, in an if-you-squint-your-eyes-just-right-she’s-actually-pretty sort of way.

I hope I’m wrong, but my guess is this group will overwhelmingly approve it and end up regretting it 12-18 months later. History has a way, they say, of rhyming.

jetset

fixed it for you

TipTanks

If your current regional rhymes with “SLywest” then take the first job you can get. It’s well documented that AA, UA and DL are slow playing OO hires.

e6bpilot

I have read some of the thoughtful and not so thoughtful replies to this topic. In my opinion, you would be a fool to remain at a regional airline with more than a decade left in the career and an option to leave.
There are economic forces at work right now that are completely unsustainable. One of those is the regional airline model in its current form. The legacy carriers have used the regionals to undercut labor and provide a good portion of their lift at reduced cost for decades. With the labor market like it is, they have had to greatly increase those costs and are basically doing the equivalent of throwing money into a furnace just to keep the heat on. It’s going to come crashing down around them at some point. It may take a tipping of the economy to do that, and I would bet as an amateur economist that it’s coming sooner than later. When they’re paying RJ check airmen widebody captain rates plus just to not leave, there’s a big problem. History is littered with stories of hiring booms just like this one in the airlines followed by mass furloughs.
Leave now and take the first class you get at a major airline. Then take the Cinderella class when that one comes. When the record scratches and the music stops, where do you want to be? I would want to be at a destination carrier with a padding of seniority under me.
Don’t let the detractors sway your decision that is going to have a direct effect on you and your loved ones. Despite SWAs complete and utter lack of any sort of leadership, it is a big ship with a little rudder and it is going to keep making money and growing its business for the foreseeable future. Once we get the contract we deserve, maybe after voting one or two of them down, we are going to be right in line with the legacy carriers.

calmemployment

Choose which Major airline you work for carefully.

Southwest FO longevity pay rates at guarantee:

1st Year $6,667 mo / $80,013 yr
2nd Year $9,641 mo / $115,695 yr
3rd Year $10,734 mo / $128,810 yr
4th Year $11,850 mo / $142,200 yr
5th Year $12,980 mo / $155,760 yr
6th Year $13,545 mo / $162,550 yr
7th Year $13,906 mo / $166,879 yr
8th Year $14,271 mo / $171,262 yr
9th Year $14,432 mo / $173,194 yr
10th Year $15,805 mo / $177,661 yr

avi8er

That’s just pathetic

Mozam

Is that using 108 TFP? ( 3 more days of work than what the lines are built at )

bobble

Get a class date at literally the first major to give you a class. Sit in class and research which airline you should then work for. It’s a pilots market now but won’t be forever.