SWA/Airtran pilot integration thoughts, what will the new list look like?

[ATLplt]

I am guessing Kwick is a senior FO at AT. I am a senior FO at SWA. I don't pretend to have this figured out though. Let me ask you this Kwick. Was Airtran your first choice? I just had a very young, somewhat senior, captain there tell me how he came to Airtran to get his time and leave and said that was pretty much the idea most of his classmates had. When it came time to leave there was nowhere to go. I came to SWA because I wanted to stay at SWA. I am not bashing your pilot group as I have many friends there. It is just that most of them viewed their job as a stepping stone until the industry stopped and they had nowhere to go.

Again, AT pilots, this is not a dig on you. You are a great group of pilots who are going to LUV what is coming your way. I am just going by what my AT friends are saying about THEIR decision to go to Airtran.

AirTran was my first choice. I was born here, grew up here, attended college here, and have always simply disliked Delta. I saw AirTran as a way to be based back at home, a means to a quick upgrade, and a comfortable salary able to provide for my needs until a better contract could be attained. I appreciated, most of all, the amount of sweat equity a lot of great pilots had to put into this place to become VERY successful in spite of the 1000lb gorilla across the ramp.

I don't know why you need to know if it was anyone's first choice or not. We all have different reasons for our decisions...geography, salary, seniority list movement, QOL, etc... In 2006, when I was hired, AirTran had an established fleet of nice 717's, 737's rolling in every month, and an order for a lot more. Things were looking good, considering 20+ percent growth every year (= lot's of folks on the list behind you). That was then, of course. Much has changed in the last four years. So are you talking in present tense or past, because when a lot of us were hired here things were very different.

 

[Kharma Police]

Most every pilot that has been at SWA for ten years is a Captain. By the way SWA hired over 400 pilots in 2004. Followed by over 400 each year for the next 4 years.

Thanks for the clarification, I guess I wasn't paying attention to your hiring in 2004.

 

[jball2]

Coming up on 9 years actually. I live in Atlanta as well and was torn between "BIG D" and SWA. They both had much to offer and were completely different. One thing I knew for sure, was every one of my friends that went to SWA was a REAL friend. The ones that went to Delta never talked to me again after they got their Double Breasted ego. When I got my SWA interview, my REAL friends called me to ask how they could help. Between that and my first trip to "Mecca" in Dallas, I knew where I wanted to hang my hat. There was no doubt whatsoever.

The reason I never considered Airtran was because, at the time, I made nearly as much at my regional as junior AT captains. The pay cut to start over was a much a bigger bite than I could handle financially.

As far as upgrades, I was told I would upgrade in 5 years at SWA so I think that argument about expected upgrade is moot. We are going to work this out and I think some of us may have to swallow bigger pills than others (those of us at SWA hired in my time frame are used to it). I still have no regrets at SWA but I think my 9 years should mean something. I don't think that is unreasonable.

Welcome to the family!

 

[ATLplt]

I think your 9 years at SWA means a hell of a lot. I think all of us mean something in the grand scheme of things. Nobody will be totally rewarded in the deal. It's certainly not what each individual pilot wants anyway. It's what the merger committee feels is fair, how they negotiate with the other side, and ultimately how the lawyers argue their cases to the arbitrator.

 

[Kharma Police]

Coming up on 9 years actually. I live in Atlanta as well and was torn between "BIG D" and SWA. They both had much to offer and were completely different. One thing I knew for sure, was every one of my friends that went to SWA was a REAL friend. The ones that went to Delta never talked to me again after they got their Double Breasted ego. When I got my SWA interview, my REAL friends called me to ask how they could help. Between that and my first trip to "Mecca" in Dallas, I knew where I wanted to hang my hat. There was no doubt whatsoever.

The reason I never considered Airtran was because, at the time, I made nearly as much at my regional as junior AT captains. The pay cut to start over was a much a bigger bite than I could handle financially.

As far as upgrades, I was told I would upgrade in 5 years at SWA so I think that argument about expected upgrade is moot. We are going to work this out and I think some of us may have to swallow bigger pills than others (those of us at SWA hired in my time frame are used to it). I still have no regrets at SWA but I think my 9 years should mean something. I don't think that is unreasonable.

Welcome to the family!

Thank you for the welcome, enjoy not commuting!

 

[jball2]

ATLplt- The reason I asked this is because Kwick has this attitude of entitlement that he believes he should leapfrog over people with more seniority than he has. I personally wrote letters of rec. for 3 of my friends at AT to come to SWA. People willing to go to the bottom of our list just to "Get Out." I just bothers me when that I have 9 years in and Kwick thinks a 5 year AT guy should be senior to me when I busted my tail to get to Southwest.

I'll take double my seniority for 2 million Alex.

Sorry if I sound crass, I know some of our guys have been the same way. I worked my way up the ladder at SWA and expect to be rewarded as such. I am not advocating a staple I just want something that rewards me, just a little for crying out loud. Kwick's solution is a swift kick in the, well, you know.

 

[jball2]

OK, I will concede this much. Driving to work will be awesome!

You are correct, they M/A committees and lawyers will have the say and we will all move on.

 

[IAHERJ]

Thank you for the welcome, enjoy not commuting!

Jball2 is one of the nicest guys you will meet at SWA. When a lot of us were trolling around Auburn years ago expecting to follow the same paths most from Auburn took to boring ole ASA, Jball2 went in a new direction and got picked up by ACA. 3 captain types later he jumped over to SWA. He gave me my multi-engine training in an aircraft most people probably shouldn't have been allowed to stand next to much less fly around in(with a dog)....There is a small part of me that wishes I stayed at AirTran(2003 hire) so I could hang out with all the ATL guys and the good guys that went to SWA from college.

 

[jball2]

IAH- thanks for the kind words. You are one of the good ones. I want to come see your boat sometime. The beer is on me brother! WDE!!!!!!!!

 

[luv2fly]

Thanks for the clarification, I guess I wasn't paying attention to your hiring in 2004.

No worries, I was just clarifying your remark about AirTran being the only airline hiring in 2004. How many folks did you guys hire in 2004? Not a hit just curious.

 

[IAHERJ]

IAH- thanks for the kind words. You are one of the good ones. I want to come see your boat sometime. The beer is on me brother! WDE!!!!!!!!

Anytime, and yes, I'll take you up on the beer offer since you make more money than I do ! Of course, a real man would offer to buy the fuel.......my dad made that mistake once, once that is.......

 

[ATLplt]

Fair enough.

Kwick may not have been cordial in his post, but have you read how condescending a lot of your group has been to our pilots? I think a lot of what is being written on these threads lately is more a reaction to attitude and a general lack of class (from both sides) rather than true beliefs in what may go down. Things will get better when we stop lobbing cheap shots at each other.

 

[IAHERJ]

I've seen it. It has in fact caused me to become a real jerk in a lot of threads aimed at SWA. It wasn't until I realized an hour ago that I have no dog in this hunt anymore and that I have a few good friends at SWA that I decided to cut the crap. I hope the few that know who I really am don't take my pot shots and retorts as a shot at them personally. We are all just hauling passengers around chasing the same dollars. I hope this thing works out for all involved.

 

[ATLplt]

Did somebody say boat? Have gas/beer money... will boat whore with the best of em!

 

[jball2]

Very true ATLplt. I think some guys are just stirring the pot anyway. I may have just bitten off on it. All I can say is, the party over here is just going to get bigger. Let's make sure it get's better!

 

[jball2]

IAH- Who said we had to start it up. If I drink enough, I won't notice. I never took offense btw.

Everyone- we have a few on here who make it their life's work to come up with better flame bait than the next guy. Don't take them seriously. Picture a sinister smile and a can of Budweiser at the keyboard.

 

[IAHERJ]

Purchased my first boat on lake Lanier back in 2003. Hauled it out to Lake Travis. After replacing 2 trailer tires and 2 of the 3 trailer axles along with my bumper on the truck I finally arrived only to find out that the gas gauge didn't work and I ran it out of gas on day 1. After getting a tow into my slip I decided to move up to a larger boat. This time a twin engine cruiser with (2) 454's and a generator and all the bells and whistles one would expect from a boat of this size. I'm at CAL by this time and named the boat "layover". My next door neighbor in the slip next to me is a SWA captain and had a similar boat(SeaRay Sundancer 340) named, get this, "Quick Turn". Of course we had random days off during the week and the other owners would always stop buy and see us hanging out on the dock drinking beer etc. on a Tuesday afternoon and comment about how we pilots didn't ever have to work etc.... haha. it got old but they never stopped. Anyway, I've done just about everything you can do wrong in a boat on this lake including ingesting other anchor lines into my port prop and slamming into a 50 foot Formula while I was down in the cabin making margarita's thinking I was holding firmly on the "hook" on a Fall day under windy conditions.....me and boats, bad mix

 

[Kharma Police]

I like what I'm reading, mutual love and respect to you all! The Kharma Police isn't afraid to say he is getting misty eyed.......

 

[IAHERJ]

I like what I'm reading, mutual love and respect to you all! The Kharma Police isn't afraid to say he is getting misty eyed.......

Really? Well Up Yours!



I keed, I keed!

 

[Clyde Frog]

It is just that most of them viewed their job as a stepping stone until the industry stopped and they had nowhere to go.
.

Before 9/11 SWA lost a lot of pilots to places like UAL/DAL etc.

There seems to be a lot of arrogance coming from the SWA pilots on this forum. We're all very impressed with your stellar contract but it wasn't always that great and history guarantees it won't always be.