Originally Posted by symbian simian

Sooo, how do you guys feel about marriage?

Originally Posted by RJSAviator76

In hindsight…. Southwest without any hesitation. Flown with plenty of guys furloughed from United after 9/11 who then would have gotten the shaft again in 2007. Yet, in 2000 and even in 2001, people were leaving Southwest to go to United.

Going forward? United seems to be a better choice with much quicker upgrades and movements due to retirements. But there’s that unknown factor.

But then again, if I could predict the future, I certainly wouldn’t be an airline pilot.

We live in a different era. Pre-Covid, I would tell you that one of the biggest selling points of Southwest was never having furloughed. During Covid, our management burned that record, backed up over it, and stomped on it again by sending WARN Act notices to 1221 pilots 120 days before any furlough was supposed to take effect and all to insert a force majeur clause in our contract and pretend we were gonna save the airline by taking a 10% paycut.

With this maneuver and series of incompetent decisions, Southwest has made itself no different than any other legacy airline with a few notable exceptions:

- We fly one type of airplane and we aren’t doubling in size anytime soon.

- We have a relatively young pilot group which means our retirements are minimal… or to borrow our management’s word… “flattish”

Based on those two factors, your career progression will suffer because upgrade will take a decade or longer.

You’ll see in W2 threads that Southwest pilots can and do make a lot. It comes at an expense of QOL and it gets to be long term. Also, Southwest has many bases that you can get into….

Money in the bank (Southwest) doesn’t mean anything if we have another major event like the MAX grounding. Bottom line…. Roll the dice and enjoy the ride.

Originally Posted by WHACKMASTER

THIS! Honestly, 30+ years on a Guppy is enough to make one think unhealthy thoughts. It seems that most SWA pilots are throughly burnt out at 10 years in.

Originally Posted by Bestglide

Then why are they letting SWAPA press for age 68?
I agree guppy flying is horrible….

Originally Posted by WHACKMASTER

Who the hell is pushing for an increase? Out of 20+ domicile reps, apparently only two (old ones of course) are for it. What makes you think SWAPA is pushing for it?

Originally Posted by AlettaOcean

Not familiar with SWA machinations during the pandemic. I know that at United they pushed through, and got, the pandemic relief agreement PRA. 25-50% pay cuts, depending on which 1/3 you ended up in. Yes, they cut the pilot group into 1/3s. The pay rates stayed the same, they simply cut your monthly guarantee down to 40 hours or so. The bottom third got the 40.

The union spun it as: “You’re getting a higher pay rate than the Delta 717.”

So, Delta 30 hours of 717. You don’t have to show up.

United 40 hours of (737, etc.) but you’re on reserve for ten days. Use that to pay your Covid-19 hotel room. That’s a better deal.

That’s how stupid they are. The only thing that saved them was the US Government. And Sarah Nelson.

Originally Posted by UALfoLIFE

This post is nothing but a disingenuous opinion of a no voter.

Originally Posted by AlettaOcean

You are a true warrior, sir. And to think that Delta pilots only had to give up about 4 hours to “save” their furloughees.

It’s hard to fathom, but the vast majority of you YES voters actually believed that Kirby was going to furlough 4000+ pilots. Don’t worry, you’re not alone, as 70% of United pilots are sycophants.

Enjoy your collaborator-negotiatied contract, as you and 70%+ of your peers have already proven they’ll vote YES for any POS the company puts in front of them.

Originally Posted by WHACKMASTER

I always thought that we’d be getting married. In fact, I was certain of it. Alas, you’re going to marry F9 or JBA instead.

Originally Posted by symbian simian

Guess we are going for the younger one with the bigger engines