Hotel costs are only required if you don't live in ATL during sim training. As hiring stays consistent, more and more will be doing theirs in MIA for example. That's company paid. From my perspective, most of the people I know at SW or who want to be there bought the type just to be considered. I'd like to know where SW would be today if they paid for the types for every pilot they've hired over their existence. What's more unfair? A $5-8k type (usually on the hopes and dreams of getting an interview)? Or a roughly $500-1500 hotel cost for a couple of weeks? A pilot who lives in ATL or knows family, et al, therefore doesn't pay for training? I'm not defending the contract language at DAL. Hell, I get the business case for SW requiring its pilots to have the type prior to class. But to suggest that a couple of weeks worth of hotels is somehow more significant than buying an entire type - which requires...what for it...training - is horribly misleading. Also, which of these options would be easier to swing financially (if someone didn't have the type prior to class at SW)?
My point really had nothing to do with SW. The person I originally quoted claimed that straight-up hotel costs were somehow a pay-for-training scheme. Personally, I'd rather face the hotel expense after knowing I had the job than on a wing and a prayer hoping I'd get called after getting the type for SW. As for your ATP question, that doesn't apply here. First, everyone is now required to have it per the FAA. Second, I paid for every bit of my training and certification from 0 hours until I got my CFI. Does that mean I sinned against the god of aviation for doing so?
