RJSAviator76

That'll teach you...

Learned that one not long ago:

As a newbie, I partook in the premium game. I figured they were out of reserves, I got aced out of every other trip by the more senior crowd. Didn't feel like taking anything at straight because they were pretty low paying at straight. So there it was, a nice over-30 trips 3-day in HOT and it's early morning. They had no 3-day reserves available and whaddya know... I actually came out on top!

But before I could celebrate that I got a premium trip as a newbie, they ended up fragmenting the trip into a 2-day and put it right back into hourly open time in hopes that someone would pick it up at straight pay, plus now they could also assign it to the available 2-day reserve. The reserve ended up flying it.

In essence, if you're reserve at SWA, they want you working, and work you shall.

CLMP

That has been my experience as well. If you are senior enough to get a reserve line that doesn't touch a weekend at all (very few of them, at least in LAS), you will probably fly more for the simple reason that there are FEWER of you on reserve. I remember consistently being the ONLY eligible pilot on the DRO every time I looked.

jetdriven

How long before a new hire can hold a hard line in oak?

RJSAviator76

Currently running around 8-10 months or so... Surprisingly long considering it's our junior most domicile. The main reason is that the new hires, being awarded OAK their first month are given hard lines for consolidation which can eliminate up to 50 lines from the total lines available. As more classes come behind them, many end up bidding into other domiciles, and they get replaced by a new batch of new hires.

I was told the safe number for a hard line at just about every base is around 80% seniority in base. In OAK because of new hires cycling in and out, I was told 70%.

birdog90

What about MDW? Can a new hire get MDW right now, and time frame to hold a line there? Also, (hopefully not hijacking the thread here) how many retirements will occur over the next several years? The southwest retirement numbers don't seem to be as well published as some of the other major/legacies. Seems like Southwest is/will be a great place to work once the contract dust settles. Thanks in advance guys. I appreciate all who contribute good info here on the forum.

FLY6584

If you can't get MDW right out of training you should be able to get it by the second month, third month at the very latest. That goes for all bases besides ATL, MCO, and DEN.

I saw some retirement numbers in another thread and totalled them up for the next 10 years and it looks to be about 2200.

birdog90

Perfect. Thanks.

hoover

I was able to get any base but ATL in my 3rd month. Guys in MDW are getting blank lines in 5 months.

jetdriven

Thank you for explaining that. So would LAS provide a faster path to a hard line, about 6 months or so? How many days off for junior hard lines (weekends?) on average?

CLMP

Probably just a bit over 6 months to get off straight reserve in LAS. I've been here a year and am solidly in the blank line territory. Will probably be several more months before I can hold a junior hard line. Once your seniority approaches blank lines, be careful. You may be better off bidding the reserve line of your choice rather than rolling the dice with the bottom of the blank lines. Normally the last 4 blank lines or so are straight weekend reserve. I know many who have rolled the dice and regretted it.