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Alaska Dilema

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Jeepman

Obssesed with JEEP's
Joined
Jul 3, 2002
Posts
306
O.k. I know that things at AS are going south right now, but here is my dilema:

Currently at a good regional (As good as one can be), although even with AS paycuts I would still make more there in yr 5 than I would ever make at my current job.
Grown up in the NW and love it here. AS is the only major where I have a network of friends to recommend me.

Yes, I would love to go to Southwest, but I am leery of getting my type rating just to get an interview.

SO....do those of you at AS think that it is being/will be run into the ground by current management?

If anyone has gotten hired by SW where did you get the type rating & how much did it cost? Did you have an in at SW or did you just keep bugging them?

Thanks for any info & advice.
 
Jeepman said:
SO....do those of you at AS think that it is being/will be run into the ground by current management?

Unfortunately, I would put the odds of that at about 50-50.
 
you just need to make up your mind as to what you want-- then go for it. if SWA is your goal then do whatever it takes to get on there. you risk the cost of a type rating - so be it. there are no guarantees. besides, the fun is in the hunt and no one has a crystal ball.
 
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Actually a 737 type rating is a relatively small investment in your future. Back in the olden days many of us bought 727 FE tickets. It was a good investment then and a 737 type is a good investment now.
 
I'm still very glad to be flying at Alaska. The pay hit definitely hurts and I've lost a lot of faith and respect in our management since the beginning of the negotiating process... more for a lack of leadership than anything else. Management aside, the airline does have great employees, excellent equipment, very unique and challenging flying and a fantastic route structure. It's also a very conservative company financially... which has it's plusses and drawbacks but it means that you'll likely still have a job flying an airplane with an eskimo on the tail when you're 59. We all know how it is... cycles. Who knows what it will be like in 5 years, we could have new management by then and the airlines could be doing really well again. One major plus is that we've just ordered 35 737's with 15 options... albeit some or most could be used to replace older ones, and we also have a lot of retirements coming in the next 5-10 years.
 

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