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Latest from SWA??......2/12/02

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LearAv8r

John Ross Ewing JR
Joined
Dec 9, 2001
Posts
254
Hey everybody in the pool!!!!!!!:


I talked to JM today and I was told that I "might" make the June class. She said that they have planned for classes thru the end of April and was waiting for flight operations to give them the OK for classes after that. She also said that things were changing on a daily basis but could not give me more specifics as to when I might get called. (stop/loss etc...)

I know that I am towards the bottom of the pool list but had high hopes of getting in by April. Hopefully things will go faster than expected!!!!!!



My arms are getting tired with fingers crossed.......gotta tread tread tread.....



LearAv8r-
 
Lear's SWA date

My "algorythm" predicts a 9 May class for you bud - stop loss still in effect. June is not what you want to hear, but pretty much in line with what she'd tell a person going in May! I've heard a rumor that the stop loss faction of the poolies is "substantial" - so my guess is 2 classes worth - which would put you in June afterall.
BTW she won't get even that specific with me "definatly not by April", "sometime after April" and "early summer/late spring" are very popular phrases. What is she telling everyone else?
 
Here's what I keep hearing.

Just spoke with JM yesterday... she says "probably won't get you in by April." Of course, this is not what I had hoped to hear, but it is consistent with everything she has said up to this point. I understand there are some possible legal ramifications in providing "false hopes" to anyone waiting.

I am guessing this is like going to a restaurant. The hostess says, "It'll be about a 20 to 30 minutes before a table is ready." Then, ten minutes later the little pager starts buzzing and flashing. "Your table is ready, follow me."

So any guesses for when my table will be ready?

RightBettor
(type/pool date: Nov 6, 2001)
 
Is that a table in smoking or non-smoking section?

Any section would do I guess.

Another thing that JM said was that they have increased class size from 20 to 24 (old news) but she thought that they were going to go back to 20 per class, although she didn't say when. I thought that was kind of interesting.

She didn't really have to much info (not too surprised) about what was going to happen with hiring down the road. I guess since 9/11 everything can change in a minute.

Probably a good poker player too, keeping the cards close to the vest......


LearAv8r-
 
Well, there are enough data points on the list now, I think, to do a little forecasting based on a "status quo" situation where they are conducting continous classes.

Virtually everyone on the list with a class date is in the seventh or eighth class following the later of his/her interview or type rating dates. The "seven-class rule" also works for the few guys I know the dates for who got into the October classes as well, although I think it could also be faster pre-911.

So if you know the dates of the classes, you should be able to predict within about one class or so when you will go. It may be possible for one or two people to "move up in the flow" if the rumors of "secret factors" are true, but it's unlikely that very many folks could "jump ahead" of you--in fact, there isn't a single example of it to be seen on the list (although a couple of folks appear to have "jumped back," probably due to unavailability).

The stop-loss thing is hard to quantify, but at one point about a month ago I was told somewhat definitely "First April class with stop loss, second April class without," which would indicate that the number of stop-loss affected guys in the entire first quarter's pool group is only 20-25 or so. What the number is for the first six months of 2002 is is anyone's guess, but since there were two months with almost no interviews at the end of 2001, I'd guess you'd see no more than 2 classes worth of stop-loss guys who would actually be available and typed by summer.

So your ballpark window is 7-10 classes after your type/interview if they run 2 classes per month. There are some posts around by guys who've seen "official" company class date lists in crew lounges showing 2 classes/month through August, with 3 classes in one or two of those months. I think the People Dept is only allowed to work one quarter ahead though.

Of course, this all assumes nothing changes ;) Six months ago I was going in November. A month ago I was going in April. Now I'm going in two weeks :D
 
Just got back from the interview today.

Per Bob Dombrowski (Asst. Chief Pilot)....

Classes of 24 are too big and going back to 20.

Possible third class to be held in March. Still waiting to make that decision.
 
Classs siz

Hey ATA,

Thanks for the info. I had read about the class size in a previous post. However in that post there was no explanation given for the reduction in class size.

Of course I imagined the worst and was concerned about a revision to the apparent growth going on at SWA.

I nterviewed 7 Jan. Finally inside a week for the decision board! It feels like it's been years.

Good luck with the process.
 
As far as explanations of class size reduction (it was 26 down to 20 - wrong number in my previous post).

Capt. Dombrowski siad it was just too big a class size for them to handle. It had nothing to do with a slowing down in growth. Hence the thoughts of a 3rd. class in March.

Good Luck on your board....at least you don't have to wait 4-6 weeks like me....talk about forever!
 
Some info from the chief pilot officer.

Over 250 pilots meeting the 20 Feb DB. Currently the number of folks recommended by the interview is slightly less than half of all folks who interviewed. That is slightly less than the normal number that are recommended. Don't have an explanation. Also don't know if interview folks recommend don't hire if that is definite. I know this will send ripples galore through the Feb 20 DB folks, my apologies. I debated on whether to post this or not but everyone out there needs to know the odds going in. I wish everyone good luck. If you're not selected please don't give up on SWA. I know in the past folks have gotten some feedback on why they weren't selected (in general terms). Calling Dumbo is one way. If someone within the company recommended you & you still didn't get selected the better way would be for your contact to speak to his/her CP at their base. Again, good luck to all.
 

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