Smooth at FL450

8 months of reserve in OAK for me, but this new trend of sending more new hires out east will decrease that number if the trend continues. If fewer guys that get OAK leave at first chance, it'll make climbing off of the bottom of the seniority list much less like climbing the side of a sand dune.

Loon

True, but this does not absolve one's responsibility
to be fit for duty. Be physically, mentally and spiritually rested at report time; otherwise the "whining" tag sorta does apply.

ZapBrannigan

No, it doesn't absolve pilots of responsibility but their own DL reminded us that we are being asked to judge our own level of fatigue just at the time where our judgement may be compromised by fatigue.

At my last job any extensions /reroutes had to be run through a questionnaire designed to determine if you were fatigued. Sometimes even if the pilot wanted to continue flying, the company would throw the flag on their behalf.

Asking OAK crews to be well rested on an east coast AMs is a recipe for fatigue.


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ZapBrannigan

Back on topic, a buddy of mine got an invite today. He is typed, has interviewed twice before. Former simulator instructor for a regional, been doing 91K for about a decade.


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Smooth at FL450

Especially when that OAK crew bids PM reserve, gets awarded PM reserve, then gets flipped into an AM east coast start on day 2...

At some point, that becomes unreasonable.

at6d

Correct. While I've only had to throw in the F towel once here, it's a real deal...and it doesn't have to be on reserve, either. Weather, mx, delays, fire alarms, crying babies, etc. All of it adds to the chain. Bottom line, if you aren't safe, don't fly.

Back on track, my OAK buddies are happy for the relief of newhire lineholders for now.

It will be interesting to see what happens with PM's on the west coast when the new res system goes into effect.

Milksheikh

"Some pilots are making 500k$+ at SWA. The ability to manipulate your schedule and pick up extra time at SWA is there, if that's what you want to do..."

This was quoted off a different thread, but is this for real?? It has to be capt pay but thats like way more than any numbers I've seen thrown around for widebody capt pay at delta/fedex/anyone. Does this mean one could comfortably make 300-350k with like 16+ days off?

Also, "lots of newly hired younger guys who will be there forever ahead on the seniority list." Again quoted from an AA vs SWA thread. I've been seeing a lot of this too.. While I get that AA is a much more senior group than SWA, about how young are they hiring guys? Mid to late 20's? mid 30's? I get that its all relative and also realize every class at SWA has a different age makeup and AA with all the senior flow throughs, will have a much higher average new hire class age. But compared to the other majors, does SWA usually take a better look at younger guys? I would think that (until recently) with the 1k turbine PIC requirement, it would be the opposite and their new hires would be a bit more senior simply due to it taking longer to accrue that PIC time.

Ohlsan

At the event I believe they said the record was around 315 TFPs in a month, they also said they hire from every age demographic so that they will not have a large group retiring all at the same time.

e6bpilot

Yes, the 500k thing isn't a myth. What it takes to get there is to wh0re oneself out unmercifully. There are a few captains that made over 400k on the old pay rates, they should have no problem clearing 5 this year with their excess checks from their retirement plans being the icing on the cake. Not my cup of tea, but more power to those who do it. There is no cap on the number of trips you can pick up at SWA. Many take that to the extreme and many take it to the other extreme and have a very very light schedule.

Take a look at the retirement projections for SWA. They hired in the mid oughts and prior to that had some young hires and there is a pretty big bubble of guys who are hanging out for the next 10-15 years. Right now it is a 10 year upgrade and holding. I suspect that will go down a little based solely on growth.
AA has a huge number of retirements during the next 10 years so you don't have to depend on growth for seniority movement. You will undoubtedly have a shorter upgrade opportunity and more choices going to AA.
The two are just different companies. I wouldn't say one is better than the other for a pilot career. It just depends on what you want.

Warhawg01

Flew with a six month CA who said he grossed $390K his last year as an FO. He's single, he "hustled" to get there, and not a lot of days off.