Any SWA or Airtran pilots see recent SLI at Mesaba/Colgan/Pinnacle?

[SWA/FO]

I'd wager that if we had your Mgmt, we'd have a great contract too and if we had your Mgmt, we'd be working for a strong company too. This has so little to do with you and so much to do with the Company you work for. I hope that if this goes to arbitration

There is a little bit more to it then excellent management. Culture is a huge factor. Be careful what u wish for!

 

[PCL_128]

And though the quals of AAI pilots did come up in recent years, they continued to hire pilots with absolutely NO PIC turbine as recently as 2008.

Wrong. AirTran has had a requirement for turbine PIC for a long time. In fact, it goes further than simple turbine PIC, and requires that at least 500 of your PIC be in part 121 or military operations. When I was hired, you couldn't get the call until at least 1000-1200 part 121 PIC, even if you had multiple internal recommendations.

 

[Luv2BFlyin]

There is a little bit more to it then excellent management. Culture is a huge factor. Be careful what u wish for!

No, Mgmt is pretty much it. They run the airline, which entails marketing, route structure, revenue managment, hiring and firing, and of course promoting the culture. They just hired over 9000 employees in one fell swoop, they're not worried about us destroying the culture.

I'm not wishing for anything (like a "significant gain in seniority" for instance), I'm willing to wait on a negotiated, mediated, or arbitrated settlement and will happily assimilate to the SWA culture if/when there is an ISL that is implemented.

 

[ASADFW7]

PCL your professional insights are endless. Thank you for sharing that Airtran is an exceptional airline to work for, and how it is equal to SWA. I had a few friends who went to Airtran from ASA great people to work with. Your persistence is wearing all the SWA pilots down, please stop harming us with equality, we already have to work within a PC environment. Please allow us the privilege of our soap box.

 

[carl p]

On the other hand, while I do agree that our mgmts' styles are vastly different, I can't help but think that so many of your senior pilots (many who have since retired) made a deal with your last mgmt when they all worked for EAL. They were welcomed to VJ when no other airline would take them. They proved they would fold for mgmt. As a result, mgmt treated them like crap and the contracts were well below the rest of the industry. Because of that, AAI was more than happy to get enough bodies to fill a class for many years. They hired pilots with qualifications well below that of any other major airline. And though the quals of AAI pilots did come up in recent years, they continued to hire pilots with absolutely NO PIC turbine as recently as 2008.

I can tell you that I personally had a friend with several internal recs, over 5K TT 3K of jet time (727, 737) who passed the interview but was not hired because he had slightly less than the turbine PIC min in 2007.

In my class the lowest time guy had 2K turbine PIC and over 5K TT. Many of us were well above double that. I highly doubt anyone was hired in 08 (or the last 8 years) without turbine PIC...

 

[miles otoole]

There is a little bit more to it then excellent management. Culture is a huge factor. Be careful what u wish for!

And it's Herb who created the culture. Herb=management.

 

[400ADude]

Wrong. AirTran has had a requirement for turbine PIC for a long time. In fact, it goes further than simple turbine PIC, and requires that at least 500 of your PIC be in part 121 or military operations. When I was hired, you couldn't get the call until at least 1000-1200 part 121 PIC, even if you had multiple internal recommendations.

Wow. I had no idea it was that competitive.:laugh:

 

[400ADude]

I can tell you that I personally had a friend with several internal recs, over 5K TT 3K of jet time (727, 737) who passed the interview but was not hired because he had slightly less than the turbine PIC min in 2007.

In my class the lowest time guy had 2K turbine PIC and over 5K TT. Many of us were well above double that. I highly doubt anyone was hired in 08 (or the last 8 years) without turbine PIC...

How many DWI's did he have? I've heard for the 2007 hires you needed at least 2 and must have had either one interview bust at SWA for lying on the app after the background check or two busts from the SWA interview without a background check. It is competitive either way.

 

[SWA/FO]

And it's Herb who created the culture. Herb=management.

Herb isn't management.... Herb is one of a kind! You are forgetting about Colleen?

 

[MILF Hunter]

Wrong. AirTran has had a requirement for turbine PIC for a long time. In fact, it goes further than simple turbine PIC, and requires that at least 500 of your PIC be in part 121 or military operations. When I was hired, you couldn't get the call until at least 1000-1200 part 121 PIC, even if you had multiple internal recommendations.

PCL, I really shouldn't even argue qualifications with a guy who paid Gulfstream to warm a seat and accumulate flight time. Yet here I type...

When you were hired, I KNOW there were pilots hired with less than the numbers your put above. Over the years, I'm sure y'all have hired some very qualified pilots. At the same time though, y'all continued to hire pilots with less than AAI's lower published mins.

Look at your list in 11/06. There is a kid who was 22 freakin' years old when hired! Not even old enough for an ATP. I'm sure he was some check airmen's son. Actually, I know he was. As was the guy one number down on that same list. Neither had any turb PIC. That's a fact. At SWA, NOBODY gets in without plenty of turb PIC.

This info could be meaningless in the longrun, but DO NOT pretend AAI hasn't hired pilots with little qualifications from day 1 to very recently.