SWA class dates

[Skycam]

Hey SWA gang,

A good friend of mine has an interview next month. Just wondering, if he is selected, how long he might have to wait for a class date.

 

[Herkdrv]

Hey SWA gang,

A good friend of mine has an interview next month. Just wondering, if he is selected, how long he might have to wait for a class date.

Good question. As of now the Sep 17 class is the last one for the year. Who knows what will happen after that. They are still interviewing so hopefully after the new year the classes ramp up again.

 

[Tanker Clown]

Due to no more classes for the rest of the year and a flight reduction of 6% starting in January added to zero growth overall for '09, look for him to start in late 2010. Throw in some furloughs, and you could add a couple of years to that.

 

[MOCO]

Question for Tanker Clown

Hi Tanker Clown,
Just curious, what is your name and that of your unit?

 

[Tanker Clown]

You want my SSN and credit card info while you are at it? What's your real name and unit/company?

 

[redflyer65]

Your too late, they already have his name.

 

[MOCO]

To Tanker Clown

I am not interested in your SSN number and credit card info. BTW, my name name is Matt Nelson and a pilot for Southwest.

 

[Skycam]

Due to no more classes for the rest of the year and a flight reduction of 6% starting in January added to zero growth overall for '09, look for him to start in late 2010. Throw in some furloughs, and you could add a couple of years to that.

Ouch! I'll tell him not to quit his day job. I don't even qualify yet, so there's no point in my worrying about it yet.

 

[roughneck]

Tanker clown is the asssplurge of flightinfo, don't listen to a word that idiot says. Your buddy will likely be in class in the Spring and worst case summer of next year.

The company is negotiating with 5 different labor groups. As soon as some of these negotiations start to wrap up, you will see a large order for additional aircraft followed by announcements of massive expansion.

We make money like no other airline. We will grow like no other airline too.

 

[B727Driver]

OK clown, your turn.

 

[Skycam]

Tanker clown is the asssplurge of flightinfo, don't listen to a word that idiot says. Your buddy will likely be in class in the Spring and worst case summer of next year.

The company is negotiating with 5 different labor groups. As soon as some of these negotiations start to wrap up, you will see a large order for additional aircraft followed by announcements of massive expansion.

We make money like no other airline. We will grow like no other airline too.

Okay...that's better! I'll take the word of a current employee any day. Thanks...I will let him know. Still gonna be a while for me, though. Hope you guys continue to do well.

 

[Peealot]

Back to original question, I interviewed recently and they told us that classes were scheduled for the remainder of the year and that the go ahead for class was pulled and/or not given YET. They also mentioned, that there was the POSSIBILITY of a class or two for the remainder of the year, but most likely classes would continue sometime in spring-ish.

They [interview team] also mentioned the pool is empty. However, the Oct 20 DB is going to do wonders for that. I heard of about 40 interviews in August and about 60ish in Sept, plus a unknown number in Oct. Past that, I have no info.

Of course they also mentioned that everything could change at a moments notice given the fluid nature of whats going on right now. I take that to mean better(sooner) or worse(later).

Anyone hear that Continental sold their mantainence hangar in DEN to SWA?

 

[Bigoober]

Interesting info, peealot. Nothing passed around the CAL forums about selling a maintenance hangar, but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[BigDave]

The pool as of now has about 50 people in it, most from the July DB and a few that deferred from last year.

Back to original question, I interviewed recently and they told us that classes were scheduled for the remainder of the year and that the go ahead for class was pulled and/or not given YET. They also mentioned, that there was the POSSIBILITY of a class or two for the remainder of the year, but most likely classes would continue sometime in spring-ish.

They [interview team] also mentioned the pool is empty. However, the Oct 20 DB is going to do wonders for that. I heard of about 40 interviews in August and about 60ish in Sept, plus a unknown number in Oct. Past that, I have no info.

Of course they also mentioned that everything could change at a moments notice given the fluid nature of whats going on right now. I take that to mean better(sooner) or worse(later).

Anyone hear that Continental sold their mantainence hangar in DEN to SWA?

 

[highflying]

Any word on interviews after october or for the rest of the year?

 

[whymeworry?]

We make money like no other airline. We will grow like no other airline too.

Your fuel hedges are expiring. And the ones you still have lose existing value every time oil comes down.

Your mgmt could have used your hedging advantage to build your cash position and grow your airline even more. Instead, they chose to pass your hedging savings on to the average consumer. I'm sure the passenger thanks you for that but such a tactic is going to make it much harder for SW to compete in the future, which will ultimately lead to the slow chipping away of your CBA.

Think I'm wrong? Last year YOUR CEO stated that without fuel hedges, SW would've lost money.

Now's the point where every SW pilot on flightinfo flames me for being envious of their position. Don't waste your effort, that argument has been played out too many times on here already. Time will tell who is right and that time is around the corner.

Regardless, you still have a great airline. SW treats it's employees much better than any of our airlines could even imagine to. I'm not throwing stones at your guys at all, I just think, like many analysts do, that y'all should've used those hedges to your advantage instead of passing the savings along to John Q. Public. Unfortunately, your mgmt's blunder over the past few years will affect us all in that when your contract begins to get concessioned, our mgmts will use that as a benchmark for negotiating ours.

 

[Tanker Clown]

You just touched the third rail. Better dig in.

 

[Mach 80]

>>>>Think I'm wrong? Last year YOUR CEO stated that without fuel hedges, SW would've lost money.<<<

Everyone knows that if SWA didn't have the fuel hedges, they would have raised fares a LOT more than they did and probably stayed profitable. They certainly wouldn't have kept their fares where they are absent the hedges. The fuel hedges allow(ed) SWA to make things more difficult for the competition bykeeping fares lower. If fuel hedges "run out" they can raise fares but you guys keep talking about the hedges "running out" while they continue to examine new hedge purchases all the time.

 

[Benhuntn]

By the way we did bank the money too. We now have hedges worth 4.3 billion and 6 billion in the bank with a line of credit worth 1.2 billion.

 

[Richard Gozinya]

Before you discount that there isn't any newhire classes, you have to take into consideration that the RNP training for the ENTIRE pilot group starts on JAN 1. You can only do so much training. They are also looking at the Autothrottle implimentation. You can bet, if there is money or gas to be saved, then SWA will find a way to do it.

Speaking of gas hedging, didn't Continental just purchase some gas on the hedging program? Was it above or below $130?

Dick