MaxBlast feeling the LUV!

[Wesb737fo]

Can you manipulate you're schedule at all on reserve?

 

[SWA Bubba]

You and the rest of your gang keep telling yourselves how great you are, how innovative you are with your "#1 Internet" et al while peddling along in your old as dirt Classics; hot cabins and mx breakdowns nothwithstanding. Funny how Delta can make the 717 profitable but somehow SWA can't.

As I recall, you guys used to fly even older, nastier, used DC-9s. You eventually bought newer airplanes, and retired the older ones as you had the opportunity. What do you see differently about -300s being slowly phased out in favor of NGs at SWA? Not too familiar with your own history? The -300s are still making money--and a lot more than your 717s could ever make.

Delta believes they can make the 717 profitable, but only as replacements 70-seat RJs. So, okay, I suppose the 717 is somewhat better than a 70-seat RJ. Happy now? That make you feel all better?

Inefficiencies reign supreme at SWA. We see it every day and as much as you probably hate to admit, I bet you see it too. Getting stuck in the old ways of the famous SWA mantra, "That's How We've Always Done It" has been the demise of many a large corporation. Don't think for one second that yours is any different.

Finally, your comment about upgrading to new technology should be done only when it's "strictly necessary" is exactly the type of attitude I'd expect from someone who shuns technology rather than embraces it. I bet you just love flying the -300 sweatbox on 6 intra-state legs in Texas don't you, doing max speed to get to your LBB layover 5 minutes early. Technology should be a never-ending rolling advancement. Stop by ATL one day and take the tram over to the new F Concourse to see a piece of it up close.

No, I don't love flying the -300 on "6 intra-state legs in Texas." Don't do much of that out of LAS, fortunately, and there isn't nearly as much of that anywhere in the system these days, actually. But on the other hand, if that makes the company money (and keeps my job secure and well-paid), then I'm all for it. What is it you don't get about this? I'll say it one more time for the guy whose either incredibly stupid, very forgetful, or just trying to be a dick: it's more important for an airline's aircraft to make money, than it is for the airline's aircraft to keep the pilots more comfortable and lazy. Seriously, what is it that you don't understand about this? I'm glad you're not in charge of actually managing anything.

Glad to hear that AirTran was so much more "technologically advanced" and more "innovative and efficient" than Southwest. Tell me again which company always made a profit, pays its employees much better, and has never furloughed again? And which on hasn't done any of those? Again, thank God for everyone here that you're not in charge of jack sh!t around here.

By the way, you keep saying "your company," meaning mine. Don't you mean "ours"? They're the ones paying your salary these days, since your old management couldn't wait to get rid of you. And if you really can't stand the thought of flying a -300 instead of your idea of the best airplane ever made (the 717), then keep in mind that you know where they're going. And I hear those guys are hiring as well. You can fly for Delta, on the very bottom of their totem pole, where even they believe the 717 should be.

Get a grip, man. Get over things that you can't change. Or don't.

Bubba

 

[SWA Bubba]

Can you manipulate you're schedule at all on reserve?

Not really. You can give away or trade blocks of reserve with another pilot, but not with the company. That's one of the things we're working on in this section six.

You can't break a block up and give part of it away either, with one exception: If you fly a pairing during a reserve block, and find yourself with a single day of reserve left, they you can give that single day away.

Bubba

 

[Ty Webb]

That's also using your NEW rates. Try using the rates you had prior to SWA purchasing AAI. I know 100TFP at SWA is very easy to come by with 17-19 days OFF.

Sure, buddy. As long as we're comparing it to your 2001 contract. ::laugh:

We were getting a new contract with or without SWA, and we had previously rejected the pay rates that you want to take credit for.

 

[madjack]

SWA FO vs AAI CP, maybe less money but you don't have to deal with those testy ATL FAs anymore...looking for the upside here...

 

[dicko]

Ok SWA FOs need a raise

I agree ...... And you're still a tiller clenching, window licking muppet.

 

[Ty Webb]

That's also using your NEW rates. Try using the rates you had prior to SWA purchasing AAI. I know 100TFP at SWA is very easy to come by with 17-19 days OFF.

I think you're going to struggle with this as well, but the SWA schedules are actually worse for commuters than the AAI schedules.

SWA builds productive 3 day trips, but they are only commutable on one end, leaving the Pilot with the hotel room or crash pad stay for each pairing.

AirTran, on the other hand, builds trips that are less productive, but are commutable on both ends.

Now, me, I would rather have a 4 day trip that starts late and finishes early, than a 3 day trip that is not commutable.

On a commutable 4 day, you commute to base on the same afternoon or evening flight you would have commuted on anyway for your SWA 3 day, but instead of going to the hotel or crashpad, you do a single leg that night to an outstation. You get 4 hours pay for a short leg, and the hotel is paid for by the Company, not you. The rest of the trip is the same, and you finish on the last day and commute home.

I spend about one night a month in ATL. I guess on paper, I might have less days off, but the reality is I am home the same, it's just I get paid for my commuting day.

 

[dicko]

Tell me again which company always made a profit, pays its employees much better, and has never furloughed again?

Bubba

Bubba,

There's no denying the innovation of SWA. There's also no denying it all happened over 30 years ago. That fact, and the degeneration of its competitors are the factors that got you here.

What SWA does today will affect the next 40 years - Flying near international after near market saturation by low cost carriers. Deciding to fly to Hawaii, then taking so long that they give up. Attempting ETOPS and giving up. Buying a Res system that has been used for a decade.

Where's the innovation ? Are you still relying on the almost extinct 'twenty minute turn' ?

 

[madjack]

The system "broken" and they don't know how to fix it... This fm MIke VdV...talking to a recent training class...

 

[Tripower455]

That's also using your NEW rates. Try using the rates you had prior to SWA purchasing AAI. I know 100TFP at SWA is very easy to come by with 17-19 days OFF.

Well, it was up until this summer. Without playing the POT game, 100+ tfp will yield 15-16 days off. Thanks Gary!