flyinglizard

I have a bit more than 16 years left and just turned down a delta switch. Here's why. I live in a base they both have. I won't ever hold widebody captain and it could be 7 years or more to hold widebody in base. I'll be my base in a 737 at either airline most likely. Maybe a bus but the 320 lines are even more dog **** than the 737. Most lines had 12 days off. Their guarantee. VERY few had 16 or more and they were all senior. I routinely have 18 and I work those extra three days if I chose; with their old contract I made way more with more days off. At my seniority here, my upgrade time is almost the exact same. The control of my schedule here is unbeatable. PBS bidding is awful. I've gotten bid award packets for three months straight and not one bid I would want. LOOOOOONG trips on almost all of them and four days is already two too many for me. And the lines are a mix of AMs PMs and red eyes.

I asked several delta people "I have plans in October. it's March now. I already know I will be able to bid, trade, or elitt so that i can go even though I don't have vacation that week. Would you be able to do the same there?" To a person the answer was no. I'm not giving that up.

If we get delta+ as promised, I will work harder here in a given day, have more days off, and have more money to fly international on my own time. Yes, we aren't allowed to be happy during negotiations and I am SAV YES to the last cell in my body. I am not a koolaid drinker and I filter Carl's emails straight to trash. I will fight for a better contract as we have MAJOR issues and I understand why new hires go elsewhere. But when you actually have that delta offer in hand and you look at it closely with cold rationality, it isn't the roses some make it out to be. It's easy to say "oh big jet!" but with that big jet comes a lot of sacrifices and you're unlikely to hold one in the base you want, with a good schedule, out of the door. Reserve sitting at home is a pretty big draw though, that was the one thing that made it really hard. Long call and never getting called almost made the change for me. If I were just starting out, that might be a different story, but my QOL here is pretty good and if we come together for a better contract, we'll be a damn good place to be.

SAV YES.

(ETA: Just read the comment you were replying to, i had missed it. In his case, yeah if he's so damn unhappy, he should 1200% leave and go to DAL or UA.)

Grumpyaviator

No, I meant Reporting Point.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Mozam

Remember the magazine SWAPA spent all kinds of money on to make (Range). I think the pilot in charge of that endeavor is now a management pilot . This place has a lot of seagulls.

Zard

it’s the gift that keeps on giving

SlipKid

Range. What a complete waste of union resources. I wonder how much he profited from that boondoggle. IIRC, Rolex, or one of the other expensive watch companies, along with others, paid for ads in that fish wrapper.

Yup, FO Range is now safely ensconced in management, along with a few other awesome SWApA reps from that era.

falconman

Longtime lurker here. I have my SWA interview this week. I have a couple questions, and figured I would ask them here instead of making a new thread. Does anyone know currently how soon after the CJO you can choose your class date? I have read that class is 60days, is that pretty much 6-7days a week, or is there any good breaks to get home? Hoping for a MDW if the hiring folks give me the thumbs up, how have the vacancies reports been looking for MDW? IF not MDW, is OAK and BWI still the other junior spots?

Thanks all!

at6d

A buddy of mine just got MDW awarded out of class. He was hired in December.

Panthertamer79

Can’t speak to the timeline of CJO to picking your class date, but I know a few folks that only waited a few weeks to start class so it must be pretty quick. Training footprint is between 50-60 days depending where you fall on the sim schedule, and is mostly 6 on, 1 off most of the time. Some folks get a few more days off during sims depending on the schedule but you can’t count on that. As stated, MDW (really any base these days) is achievable within your first few months on property. Good luck with the interview!

brdsoccer

It was same day for me. Got CJO email in the morning and pick a class date later that day. Soonest class was about a month out

MudhammedCJ

Yes, we have decent ability to move our schedule around. That's a perk. But BECAUSE we work *hard* on the days we fly, it's a win-win for us AND the company. Meaning that while it's good for you and for me, we pay for it in so many other ways. They better get the checkbook out and put a lot of ****ing zeros behind that first number. And if they continue to screw with making our days longer, and less productive, NO amount of industry leading money and other industry standard language could make up for it.