My response to SWA package!

[Dolce]

KP,

Just to make sure I'm reading your post correctly, you did not think twice about striking, meaning you crossed the picket line?

"I didn't think twice about striking!" equals strike.
"I didn't think twice about not striking!" equals EAL scab hired by AAI!

I know, I know...AAI voted 97% to strike against their crappy management and industry leading work conditions/contract, but did those guys learn their lesson after the first time or were they the dissenting 3%?

D

 

[Bill Nelson]

You couldn't grill your way out of a wet paper bag.

All grill no skill but I enjoy it anyhow.

 

[freightdogfred]

ZU,



You really want to go there? Let me ask you a question. Who's the bigger scab airline past or present...CAL, UAL or AAI? You can break it down with total numbers or ratios, whatever you want.

D

CAL, without a doubt. Followed closely by UAL. AAI would be a very distant 3rd.

 

[Luv2BFlyin]

Retards with no reading comprehension, apparently.

How horrible must this information have been to get everyone spooled up? In this packet were there threats against ALPA? Was there the threat of a raid? Were there empty promises? Anything negative said about your merger committee or MEC leadership? What did SWAPA do besides give you information that's good to know?

A buddy of mine from my UPT at Reese is at AAI and showed me the booklet thingy over FaceTime on our iPads. It looks real nice and takes his credit hours and applies SWA rates to them...holy crap! All I can say is that is a lot of dough to be left on the table. Insurance info was cool too. Going from his current pay to what was in the brochure is HUGE. That's not a little and irrelevant raise - that's life changing. We're talking a big difference in life options at that level of income. Hell, I wish I made what SWA FOs were making...at a minimum they are above most industry Captains.

He didn't show me every page and wasn't irritated by the information either. At this point he feels like there is so little information that anything he gets is welcome provided it's not the same ole BS from the company. He also added that all forums are bull$hi+ and they are comprised of the same 15 - 20 people spreading their version of reality, and that reality is not the view of the majority. He has told me that all he wants out of this deal is to not go to the bottom of a list, make more money and have a better career outlook than he had before.

Everyone chillax and think about the good and not focus on the bad stuff for once. Remember, most would kill to be in both your shoes.

Did he tell you that SWAPA used 13 months in their calculations of "credit hours earned for the 12 month period of May 2010 to May 2011"? I guess it was was a leap century and there was an extra month last year. What a joke. By adding the extra month, that adds a disparity of $9000 to $17000 or 20-30% . Nobody questions that WN pays better, but if you have to lie about your numbers on top of that, it's pretty desperate.

Seniority is forever and it's not for sale.

 

[Lear70]

Well, you can't say AF guys aren't smart because they did choose the Force over the Army, Navy, and Marines.

Did he tell you that SWAPA used 13 months in their calculations of "credit hours earned for the 12 month period of May 2010 to May 2011"? I guess it was was a leap century and there was an extra month last year. What a joke. By adding the extra month, that adds a disparity of $9000 to $17000 or 20-30% . Nobody questions that WN pays better, but if you have to lie about your numbers on top of that, it's pretty desperate.

Seniority is forever and it's not for sale.

Not to mention it looks like they calculated last year's pay at our old rates prior to December rather than using our new rates and projecting forward for a true comparison using what we fly yearly. Makes the pay disparity appear much greater than it is but it doesn't change the fact that the average SWA F/O makes between $50k-60k a year more than I do with a similar schedule.

You can't argue the money, no way around it. It's not quite as much as some have asserted, but it's substantial, nonetheless. I figure somewhere in the $1.7-2.0 Million more over what remains of my career, depending on time to upgrade. Very thankful to be in this position, and have no doubt it will all get worked out.

 

[SWA/FO]

$50k-60k a year more than I do with a similar schedule.

WOW, what do I get out of the deal? Everyone gets something, right?

 

[bravodude]

Listen I'm all for the best seniority that the Airtran pilots can get. The thing here is I keep hearing how welcome we should feel. Also the packet says wings of welcome. I do not feel very welcome when we are not getting extra staffing, extra ability to swap trips, and most importantly paying us what a SW pilot makes. So don't send me info on what I could be making if I agree to some crappy seniority number. You really thing we don't know what we would be making over there? Give me a break!

How about you guys actually say hello when you walk by a SWA pilot at the airport. Every time I walk through the airport and try to say hello to an AT pilot they wont even look my way. If you guys want to feel welcome try being a little friendly it may go a long way!

 

[waveflyer]

Where did this "seniority is forever" thing come from?
It's too ignorant

 

[jetflier]

I've never claimed to wise, old or an owl.

I have, however, been around the industry my entire life (dad was a Pan Am/Delta pilot), and have been working as an airline pilot in scheduled service for almost 25 years. Between my previous airline shutting down and SW, I did 4 months of that at DHL, if that counts.

I was, even at the tender age of 24, wise enough to pass on the EAL interview, 3 months before the strike, since I saw the writing on the wall and would never scab in any case. This is more than I can say about the vast majority of original VJ guys.

I don't know about LeJeune Rd, but I did cross 36th street to go to my Pan Am interview in April '89. I also gladly paid my ALPA strike assessment during the EAL strike and beyond.

I've been furloughed, bought, downgraded, upgraded, pay cut, pay raise, chapter 11'd, closed down, new hired, interviewed etc. enough times to know that you guys have a stellar opportunity here, even if your Entitled, Sensitive New Age Pilot sensibilities can't/won't accept it.

There are plenty of pilots out there who would be happy to trade places with the AAI guys now, but you already know that.

Just had to jump in and say that I have known TRI since the Pan Am Express days. He is the pilots pilot, great guy, loaded with integrity, honest and truthful. Never been a SCAB.

 

[27 driver]

How about you guys actually say hello when you walk by a SWA pilot at the airport. Every time I walk through the airport and try to say hello to an AT pilot they wont even look my way. If you guys want to feel welcome try being a little friendly it may go a long way!

That runs both ways. The last 3 encounters I have had with SWA crews has been the complete opposite. It was LUV Captains that wouldn't even look at us when the rest of the crew was very nice.