DELTA vs SWA from another thread....

[SWA/FO]

Delta WILL pay more than SWA by a margin in the coming years

............if they stay in business.

Delta will be tops in everything, should take ALPA not more then 18 months to get it all back. Quicker if the Delta Pilots get off all fours and tell the Kompany kernals & Kommanders to get off thier backs.

Must be hard to fly even one leg with someone pounding on your backside like that, all this while they take money out of your wallet. :cartman: Oh the shame...

the SWA/FO imp:

 

[Jetsetter]

My god, I feel real sorry for all the SWA pilots that have to fly with you.

What a class act you are....."if Delta stays in business"

Now go F***K yourself SWA FO..

 

[GogglesPisano]

It's all about the overnight. The destination does not matter. !

Unless you're at a sidewalk cafe in Europe or laying on Waikiki Beach with your crew.

Don't kid yourself, international flying wins hands down.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

SWA has always had the most competitive rates for flying, either they go down or the industry comes up. In my opinion, the rates at SW will likely freeze until the rest of industry matches it. SW used to have more productive pilots flying more hours for less money in the 80's and 90's. Today the major pilots work the same as SW pilots at less pay. It's economy 101 that you can sustain that rate in this type of market.

 

[Ralph Wiggums]

Some see hiring on at Delta a risk, citing the 911 spurred bankruptcy and furloughes. It is a risk, and nothing guarantees that Delta will return to king of the mountain or that you wont get furloughed in the future. There will never be any guarantees in this business. Historically choosing the top dog at any given time rarely guaranteed you would stay at the top. The fact there is some risk may make this a more oppertune time to go to Delta with chances for post BK growth and being in a nimble position with lower opperating costs. When its a sure thing everybodies wish list will once again change (ie top three DAL, UPS, FEDex) then it will be a real feeding frenzy and if you arent flying for the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds or something very special on your resume (3000 hours of RJ PIC doesnt count...that's a dime a dozen now) you will be waiting a long time for a chance at the "brass ring". SWA has been stable for a long time but I see alot of question marks coming up there recently. They are 100 percent domestic. The domestic market has reached its saturation point and now with the likes of Virgin America, SkyBus...etc it will be harder for SWA to do what they used to do with ease when the legacies were charging a whole lot of money for domestic routes. That is not the case anymore. In my opinion aircraft deliveries at SWA will be further slowed and upgrade times extended by a few years. The domestic market is driven mostly by price now, ironicaly SWA did more to influence this than any other airline. Now with the Ultra Low Cost carriers moving into town differentiation becomes more paramount (ie TV/Movies/Music/Games/Computer plugins/Etc) Southwest is falling behind in this arena. Once again, Ironicaly in the comming years if SWA doesnt do some things differently their profits could be harmed by their second generation children.

I can tell you that after flying for more than a few years the idea of domestic only can get boring. Current/former RJ drivers know this as well as anyone...It can at times seem like you are living on the set of Groundhog Day (reference Bill Murray) going to the same hotel for the hundredth time. Waking up in South America or Europe on the other hand, exploring a good layover with your family or crew is one of the great perks of being an airline pilot. With Delta's push for international (Asia and beyond along with lots of Europe already) there are going to be alot of really great places to see and IMHO decent money (not as high as it once was, but it will be good) to be made. To each his own though. If I'm a guy looking to do this another 20 to 30 years I could never do SWA, although I think they are a fine company and have some interesting history and have been able to call some of the shots the last few years. Having said that you could do much worse than SWA of course. Food for thought....take it for what its worth.

Another note of interest...a new hire on the property right now at Delta and in the coming months has a decent chance of getting the 767ER out of NY immediately, flying to a lot of beautiful and interesting cities in Europe this year. A friend of mine told me there are several open slots on the current bid because not everyone wants NY, preferring LAX, SLC, and ATL first.

My final advice, go somewhere you will enjoy the flying and figure out a side business that you enjoy. I have a friend at Delta that does just that. He gives away alot of his flying to free up about 20 days a month, has good overall compensation and keeps his foot in flying with ability to fly some really great cutting edge equipment and destinations in the future....really the best of all worlds.

This post makes many of the same points that General Lee tries to make in his posts, but you've done it without being a pr!ck.

Congratulations.

 

[traffic pilot]

go to delta pleeeeeeeeease!

 

[jonjuan]

Delta WILL pay more than SWA by a margin in the coming years. Delta rates are bottomed out right now (and SWA's rates relative to the rest of the industry are flying higher than they ever have by a large margin...this wont last). Delta's rates will come back up along with others which historically have always been much higher than SWA's. Maybe SWA will continue to pay more for flying a 73 than Delta but in my opinion there is little to no chance that if you go to Delta you will make less flying a 787 or 777 than at SWA flying a 737 (although you will have temporary increased earnings with the quicker upgrade on a 737 at SWA). Delta projects a 1.4 billion dollar operating profit next year and almost 2 billion the following year.

LOL......

 

[jonjuan]

The pay will eventually come back up too. Things are looking better here and there will be growth ahead,

And once again, LOL..........

 

[SWA/FO]

My god, I feel real sorry for all the SWA pilots that have to fly with you.

What a class act you are....."if Delta stays in business"

Now go F***K yourself SWA FO..

You CAPITALIZE SWA/FO and use lower case for GOD? I will repeat, if Delta stays in business they will be tops in everything. Kinda like me saying "if SWA stays in business, things will be great for the SWA/FO"

Are you that sensitive? Need some more A & D for your backside? What 5 letter word you tryin to be spelling there junior? :blush:

the SWA/FO imp:

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

The pay will eventually come back up too.

Things are looking better here and there will be growth ahead, which means upgrades too.

Bye Bye--General Lee

Pay go up? Maybe. But right now it is only wishful thinking. IMHO, not a good bet. I just caught you speeding again General. Not a fact at all.

Looking better? Absolutely. I am very happy my buds at DAL have a very good future ahead. Note that does not mean without bumps--see below.

Growth ahead? Yes. But the usual caveat remains. Growth can slow with little notice. Not something to be counted on.

You'll argue how I'm all wet General, but the economy is rapidly slowing down. Growth will be tenuous at best.