New FOs leaving CAL for Southwest

[AlbieF15]

I must be a huge loser...

"that may not even be enjoyable on a layover(MAF, AMA, BUF, OMA, GEG, ISP etc), they do it. For them it is all about flying hard (5-6 flights a day with 25 minute turns and mostly short layovers), and playing hard."


Ah I don't know where you stay in GEG but our layover there is awsome. Right on the river upstream from the falls. One of my favorite overnights in all the jobs I have had. St. Thomas was better but I always end up smoking cigars and drinking to many Red Stripes on that overnight...

Geez, I LOVED GEG layovers but they mostly went from the 727 to the A300 some time back. I guess if I liked that dump I must really not know how to have a good layover.

This month I've been flying an OLD 727 with NO GLASS to GFK and back all month. Again--I guess I should start throwing out some apps here soon and see if I can't get a better flying gig somewhere...

 

[Non Union]

Wow, I must have been asleep when Southwest somehow became a better airline than Continental.

Still have to buy the type rating to work at SW from what I can see. I guess some guys will still do it though, so why change it?

 

[Jimbodawg]

This is GOOD news! How else will pay/benefits? 1st year at CO is deplorable.

 

[Lear70]

We all don't marry the same woman either. Some like tall ones, some like short ones, some like skinny ones, .....

Who the beep cares.

Exactly. So what?

There's only 7,000 more applicants at CAL willing to take the 1st year pay hit, and it incentivizes management to bring the pay scales up at the bottom.

It kinda surprises me though. If I were already off 1st year CAL wages I'd have a hard time taking SWA, simply because the OPTION of international heavy flying sounds good. You don't have to do it all the time, you could do it for a year or two then bid back to small iron domestic. At least the CAL guys have that option.

Different strokes and all that jazz...

p.s. My vote goes for the tall near-anorexic ones, myself.

 

[Griswold]

Wow, I must have been asleep when Southwest somehow became a better airline than Continental.

Still have to buy the type rating to work at SW from what I can see. I guess some guys will still do it though, so why change it?

And some guys will fly a 757 or even 777 for $30 an hr and no health for six months and to top it off be based in EWR, so why change it? What a a-hole

I miss Bill Clinton, even our Union tells us to vote that way.

 

[Kharma Police]

Maybe it's the health insurance at SWA?

 

[Heavy Set]

I really don't get the fascination with large aircraft. I'd rather fly a light twin for $200K a year than a 747 for $150K. As far away places go... so what, my favorite airport is the one where I park the airplane at and go home. It's all about QOL and pay, and QOL is far more important.

You have never flown a large plane, so you will continue to feel that way. It is great you love going home so much, just hope your marriage doesn't fall apart and then you will be stuck flying that light twin, back home all the time. Your view is very myopic, since you fly RJs. A 737 is huge to you. If you were already flying widebodies and then got bumped down to a smaller plane (like I did when the company went away) you would feel different.

 

[328dude]

Wow, I must have been asleep when Southwest somehow became a better airline than Continental.

Still have to buy the type rating to work at SW from what I can see. I guess some guys will still do it though, so why change it?

Such a tool. It's not about who is better moron, it's a matter of what suits each individual person and what suits their family. Size no longer matters, but in your case, I guess it does. Not everyone is born with a small penis there Shorty.

 

[sfomarc]

We had a United guy on the jumpseat who was leaving United for the Virgin start up, who would have ever thought.

 

[Terp737]

"You have never flown a large plane, so you will continue to feel that way. It is great you love going home so much, just hope your marriage doesn't fall apart and then you will be stuck flying that light twin, back home all the time. Your view is very myopic, since you fly RJs. A 737 is huge to you. If you were already flying widebodies and then got bumped down to a smaller plane (like I did when the company went away) you would feel different."

I've got to say, I've flown large and small planes. I don't really see much of a difference. I've also flown overseas and stateside. It is great seeing some overseas locations, but the time changes are tough on the body and it is painful dealing with some of the controllers. As for loving to go home, you must have a pretty bad home life if you are taking a job to try to stay away from home.

 

[Double Shot]

Got news for ya

Continental has ALWAYS been a stepping stone to go somewhere better like SWA,AA,Delta,FEDEX,UPS, United, etc.

Was that way when I was first hired on at CAL and still seems to be true today.

Nothing new..

 

[catIIIc]

We also have guys leaving for Fed Ex, UPS, and DAL so what. Each person is different and I think if enough guys and gals are lucky enough to get job offers at two major airlines all power to them. No one knows if the decision is right until you retire. I know guys who left Fed Ex for UAL and AA and now are on the street. You do what is best for your family and situation.

Maybe this will wake up management about our current working conditions.

 

[starchkr]

I really don't get the fascination with large aircraft. I'd rather fly a light twin for $200K a year than a 747 for $150K. As far away places go... so what, my favorite airport is the one where I park the airplane at and go home. It's all about QOL and pay, and QOL is far more important.

Dude Socal...you hit it man...i am with ya 100%...give me my old Baron job for $200k and i would be in heaven. Much more fun flying low and "slower" than up in the FL's all the time.

Heavy Set...well, what can i say...some just have their heads up in the clouds all the time, while the rest of us actually enjoy flying for what it is. Sorry man, but i do not see things anything like you do. Big planes are no better than the small ones, but for some of you, maybe telling people you fly a big bird makes you feel like a better person...i don't know. I will also agree with Terp, the homelife must not be very good for ya, because i love coming home, it is much more exciting to be with my family than it is to be on a layover somewhere.

 

[AA717driver]

I'd so much rather be flying 12 hours from LAX to London in the middle of the night than 6 domestic 1 hour legs only to layover in a city where I can get some good mexican food and wash it down with 3-4 Dos Equis...

Glad I don't have to worry about fatigue when flying international. TC

P.S.--An airplane is an airplane.

 

[DrunkIrishman]

You have never flown a large plane, so you will continue to feel that way. It is great you love going home so much, just hope your marriage doesn't fall apart and then you will be stuck flying that light twin, back home all the time. Your view is very myopic, since you fly RJs. A 737 is huge to you. If you were already flying widebodies and then got bumped down to a smaller plane (like I did when the company went away) you would feel different.

You think so? I've never eaten a pile of sh$t, but I know I have no desire to do so. Do you discount my opinion because I have never had the experience of eating sh$t? Would I change my mind about eating sh$t if I just tried it out?

I think it is a valid opinion without having flown heavy metal.

 

[JoeMerchant]

International flying envy is just a different form of SJS....

 

[Non Union]

Maybe CAL should quit typing the new hires in the 737. I guess that would stop the pilots from getting the type rating and leaving.

 

[catIIIc]

Maybe CAL should quit typing the new hires in the 737. I guess that would stop the pilots from getting the type rating and leaving.

They can't do that unless they stop using IRO's on Caribbean turns and Guam. I think it is great that they type us if the s$%t does hit the fan, which can happen at any airline it will be nice to have options. A type rating in any Boeing is very valuable in the contract flying business.

 

[Scrapdog]

Got news for ya

Continental has ALWAYS been a stepping stone to go somewhere better like SWA,AA,Delta,FEDEX,UPS, United, etc.

Was that way when I was first hired on at CAL and still seems to be true today.

Nothing new..

This coming from bozo who thinks flying an ILS without a flight director in the sim is an ecliptic challenge. AA? Not even hiring idiot. DAL and United? Both still in bankruptcy with United not hiring yet either (and probably for a considerable while). SWA? Yeah - if you like the 737 gig for the next 30 years of your life. FDX and UPS - sure, understandable.

I think you need you need to take a break from your raw data ILS practice and smell the coffee buffoon. There are plenty of app's on file and they're hiring like crazy with confirmed orders on both 73 NG's and 787's at CAL. Yeah, when you were hired at CAL that may have been the case, but now we're replacing clown's such as yourself with guys that have a good attitude, and are glad to be here.

I'll let you get back to your callouts...

 

[Future Furlough]

!
Your continued blame of ALPA from everything to policy to the sinking of the Titanic is getting rather tiresome. 737

ALPA sank the Titanic?! So much for the folks who say the union never gets anything done. Lighten up folks. People leaving CAL is more a statement on the industry and society in general than a dis on any one individual's choices in life. Have a cold one on me:beer: