WienPilot

I was told by SWA pilot recruitment approximately 70% are given the CJO post-interview.

hockey916

I am in the same boat as you. The only days I could make work were at the end of September....Good luck to you and hope to see you there!

Rubicon

I had to do the same with my interview date. My days off just could not be shuffled around well enough to take one of the earlier dates. So I made it work with a later date.

On the bright side, this allowed me more time to make sure all of my papers were in order.

Ivana Humpalot

The name of the game is seniority. By delaying your interview date, that decision could cost you a class date. You want to get as many people behind you not in front of you.
Do whatever you need to do (cough, cough) to get to the first available interview!

Rubicon

Oh, I know (I'm part 121). It was only a matter of 2-3 days difference. You are not assigned a class date by whether you were in an interview 1 day prior to the next guy. Generally, it is a group of interview dates that get assigned a particular class date.

Spark

But there's always a cutoff in there somewhere. I know a guy who got asked if he could take an earlier class. I don't know how or why they asked him, but it could be that he was on the leading edge of the cutoff for his previously assigned class.
Don't short yourself time to prepare but generally take the earliest interview you can.
Actually, prepare NOW so you're good to go on short notice.
Good luck folks!

FL180

Well.... Yes and no.

They fill classes by going down the list of pilots that successfully interviewed and passed the DB. That list is arranged BY INTERVIEW DATE. So theotretically, you could miss a class date by one interview date but end up having 24 guys ahead of you on the seniority list once you do start class. Those 24 guys now would theortically get better vacation sooner than you, off reserve sooner than you, upgrade sooner than you, ect. Now imagine if all of a sudden hiring stopped for a few/several years and you just barely missed the cut of coming off reserve. That's alot more hotels if you are a commuter! Or what if you missed upgrade for the same length of time? That's alot of money that "one day" cost you.

That being said, I understand where you are coming from about getting the time off from your current employer. I was extremely fortunate to have an understanding chief that helped me out. I do know of another pilot I used to work with that called in sick for his interview at a different airline and it got back to our same regional airline. Maybe during a call to his chief for a PRIA/reference check, who knows? He had passed phase I and II when all of a sudden he was sent the TBNT email. That's not supposed to officially happen, but it's a small world and people talk. Maybe it was something else that got him cut, but he was led to believe otherwise.

flyguy81

I'm a regional guy. Been here 10 years. My company has never been staffed correctly. We can't drop trips. Ever. Unless we're dying. Then I think they might drop a trip. I'd rather not have to lie to anyone in the interview saying I called in sick when I'm not. I get the seniority argument. Weeks difference in my hire date yielded a vastly different career at my airline. I live in a SWA base and near 2 others. I don't care if I'm on rsv with 15 days off and driving to work. And I'm not upgrading until I can hold the schedule I want in the base I want. I played the upgrade asap game here and my QOL's been blah for 8 years. Never again.

Rubicon

I understand, and you are both correct.
I went the safe route and arranged days off as best as I could for the interview.

Even had a chief tell me to call him if scheduling tried to rearrange my days off, and said he would make sure my schedule remained as I planned it.

It's a done deal. Already had the interview.

BrasiliaFlyer

What is the quality of training at SWA like? What is the newhire washout rate? Similar to the regionals?