SWA today like the airline in the book, "Nuts!"?

[Just thinking]

That's ok. All FAT pilots will be typed at no cost to the individual. Feeling the LUV from the gk. Now the RSW pilots need to get reimbursed for the cost for their type rating. We all will get free Ipads. This aint Herb's airline h......rampers, gate agents and operations agents who do not care.... the lethargy at the hubs is appalling. Only decent turn is from outstations or contract stations.

 

[27 driver]

That's ok. All FAT pilots will be typed at no cost to the individual. Feeling the LUV from the gk. Now the RSW pilots need to get reimbursed for the cost for their type rating. We all will get free Ipads. This aint Herb's airline h......rampers, gate agents and operations agents who do not care.... the lethargy at the hubs is appalling. Only decent turn is from outstations or contract stations.

It is all but impossible to get an on time departure anymore. Nobody seems to care.

 

[PCL_128]

It is all but impossible to get an on time departure anymore. Nobody seems to care.

I know I don't!

 

[carl p]

AirTran never gave me an ultimatum.
AirTran never threatened my employment.
AirTran never used strong arm tactics to downgraded me.
AirTran never threatened me with a "Plan B"
AirTran never signed secret contracts that adversely affected their employees.
AirTran never colluded with their pilots union in an effort to screw over another employee group.
AirTran never grossly disregarded seniority.
***and lastly***
AirTran does not preach the golden rule like a hypocrite.

I'm not making any comments regarding how this whole acquisition/merger has gone down cause it's been a cluster fock.


AT did threaten to fire me and 168 others during probation instead of furloughing us in order to avoid letting the training center instructors go like they were contractually required to.
AT only agreed to furlough us after they negotiated a concession from us.
AT routinely took "Hostages" during contract negotiations.
AT routinely crapped on our contract and used ridiculous creative interpretations to screw us.
AT had S. K_lski to come up with new and creative ways to jerk us around.
AT refused to negotiate in good faith for years during contract talks asking us to take a pay cut while the company was profitable.

There were many great things about AT that I've enjoyed over the years, however Upper management wasn't one of them. The people I've flown with, the product we provided our customers and the people in the CP office were what made AT successful. Let's not re-write history with how great AT Management treated us...at least the last 6 years or so.

Again, I'm not disagreeing with the poor way we've been treated (IMO) during the whole integration process.

 

[scoreboardII]

When will everyone realize GL is nothing more than an automated FI spam generator designed to get maximum hits for advertisement charges? Place him on ignore, life is better.

 

[General Lee]

When will everyone realize GL is nothing more than an automated FI spam generator designed to get maximum hits for advertisement charges? Place him on ignore, life is better.

This guy is a serious tool, and doesn't care what happened with the integration. Good luck AT pilots when flying with dorks like him.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[PCL_128]

Let's not re-write history with how great AT Management treated us...at least the last 6 years or so.

I think his point was the hypocrisy. While Steve Kolski screwed over a lot of people, he also didn't go around talking about the "golden rule" all the time. He was upfront about being an a-hole. I'd rather deal with that any day.

 

[IBNAV8R]

I'm thinking that NUTS II will be a case study in how to destroy the culture of a once great airline - all to save a couple of cents on the bottom line.

 

[madjack]

A few hundred disgruntled FAT CPs can sure wreak havoc...

 

[scoreboardII]

I just finished reading the book "Nuts!" which was a very good and insightful read. I did think it was interesting reading through the chapters and realizing that the airline described in the book specifically the management style doesn't appear to resemble the airline today. Do any "Real Southwest" pilots agree or will I see things vastly different when I'm off to Dallas someday soon for two months?

SWA of today is at the same point Delta, TWA, United, AA, Pan Am, etc, where within a few years of when they all failed.

This company makes money despite itself.

Once that momentum dies, and the reality of a stagnant product, inability to adapt to the marketplace, and a completely disgruntled employee group will result in the same result that all those legacies realized: failure.

 

[scoreboardII]

A few hundred disgruntled FAT CPs can sure wreak havoc...

No, but 3000 FO's can.

 

[27 driver]

SWA of today is at the same point Delta, TWA, United, AA, Pan Am, etc, where within a few years of when they all failed.

This company makes money despite itself.

Once that momentum dies, and the reality of a stagnant product, inability to adapt to the marketplace, and a completely disgruntled employee group will result in the same result that all those legacies realized: failure.

I'm glad that some from the inside can see this. From the outside looking in its not pretty. If things don't change SWA will travel the same path as all the other legacies and its not fun.

 

[wood pecker]

Yes my friends at Delta remind me of how great it was back in the day with their culture. They even bought a 767 for the airline. Now those same guys said they would not even buy a roll of TP for the airline after what has happened over the years.

 

[HowardBorden]

SWA of today is at the same point Delta, TWA, United, AA, Pan Am, etc, where within a few years of when they all failed.

This company makes money despite itself.

Once that momentum dies, and the reality of a stagnant product, inability to adapt to the marketplace, and a completely disgruntled employee group will result in the same result that all those legacies realized: failure.

It's my third airline, and although it is far from perfect and debatably traveling on an unchangeable path to mediocrity, I will still choose SWA on its worst day over the vast majority of others on their best day.

Those that have not experienced the seedy underbelly of this cutthroat industry truly do not understand how good we have it. Some of the biggest critics that actually work here have never worked anywhere else, not all of the critics of course, but a large majority.

Could it be better? Of course!

Was it once better than now? Most definitely!

Are we in the death spiral? I think not.

 

[scoreboardII]

I didn't say death spiral, just failure, failure doesn't necessarily mean bankruptcy. Failure at it's core mission, people from A to B: safely, efficiently, on-time. SWA is losing on two out of the three. SWA can recover, but they need to adapt. I'm not seeing any adapting, more like retrenchment into their old ways, but not the good old ways. Stuffing 143 seats into a 137 hull, added baggage, and not changing ramp manning one iota is an example of an old way gone wrong.

 

[General Lee]

It's my third airline, and although it is far from perfect and debatably traveling on an unchangeable path to mediocrity, I will still choose SWA on its worst day over the vast majority of others on their best day.

Those that have not experienced the seedy underbelly of this cutthroat industry truly do not understand how good we have it. Some of the biggest critics that actually work here have never worked anywhere else, not all of the critics of course, but a large majority.

Could it be better? Of course!

Was it once better than now? Most definitely!


Are we in the death spiral? I think not.

Probably not in a death spiral Howie, but definitely not the same it was prior to your "hostile" takeover of the other pilot group. Bad feelings, the ones where they felt it was "two against one" in the SLI, will remain for years and years. You can't deny that, just read some posts on here. Next, your airline and the longevity of the employees has taken the "low cost" out of the LCC model. You don't have newhires everywhere making 1st year pay for cheap. You also don't walk into a market and control the fares anymore, and you don't have a fuel hedging advantage. But other than that, it's the same as before, including 5-6 leg intra Texas days. Enjoy it Howie, I'm off to Europe again this week, one leg to a nice layover dinner with crew. Bye!


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[waveflyer]

It's my third airline, and although it is far from perfect and debatably traveling on an unchangeable path to mediocrity, I will still choose SWA on its worst day over the vast majority of others on their best day.

Those that have not experienced the seedy underbelly of this cutthroat industry truly do not understand how good we have it. Some of the biggest critics that actually work here have never worked anywhere else, not all of the critics of course, but a large majority.

Could it be better? Of course!

Was it once better than now? Most definitely!

Are we in the death spiral? I think not.

This^^^

But we can and will do better-

And despite some poster's gleeful hoping predictions of our demise- I believe we will prosper well after next year

 

[dicko]

A few hundred disgruntled FAT CPs can sure wreak havoc...

Are you making a suggestion or a statement ? Who would they wreak havoc on ?You might want to figure out who they're pissed off with first ......

 

[fareview]

Probably not in a death spiral Howie, but definitely not the same it was prior to your "hostile" takeover of the other pilot group. Bad feelings, the ones where they felt it was "two against one" in the SLI, will remain for years and years. You can't deny that, just read some posts on here. Next, your airline and the longevity of the employees has taken the "low cost" out of the LCC model. You don't have newhires everywhere making 1st year pay for cheap. You also don't walk into a market and control the fares anymore, and you don't have a fuel hedging advantage. But other than that, it's the same as before, including 5-6 leg intra Texas days. Enjoy it Howie, I'm off to Europe again this week, one leg to a nice layover dinner with crew. Bye!


Bye Bye---General Lee

Ha! And talk over dinner about Lucille Ball & the '69 Jets!

Coz the last time I was in DKR at the pool with DAL CREW ..the youngest hostie (61) couldn't talk about anything else...after a vodka or two squeezed out her pool bag!

(True btw... Respect for the old gal, she gave it a go. ; >. )

fv

 

[General Lee]

This^^^

But we can and will do better-

And despite some poster's gleeful hoping predictions of our demise- I believe we will prosper well after next year

You are not going through a death spiral, you are losing your uniqueness as the ONLY LCC that affected the legacies. You are turning into a legacy yourself, just with no longhaul flying.


Bye Bye---General Lee