Reasons why Airtran pilots are gonna LUV Southwest!

[GearUpJammer]

Looking forward to becoming part of SWA:beer:

 

[chase]

Some of the major ones have been covered; the ones below are not so obvious but total up to some nice beenies in the minds of some.

• For military reservists/guard; positive relationships between flt ops, union and pilots in managing time off; SWA doesn't forget you when you are deployed...make sure you request the SWA/SWAPA Military Handbook for details
• Hotel Committee that is run by pilots/FAs and not corporate bean counters; great hotels managed by our own with an ear toward crew members; grievances are pretty non-existent in regards to hotel issues
• Free internet at nearly all hotels; discounts on food/drink totals 10-50% in hotels
• Multiple tax-free plans to take advantage of, income dependent; Roth & regular 401K, excess plans, profit sharing (5.8% last 5 yrs, 7.19% last 10 yrs), 9.3% company (less than AAI but higher SWA income totals results in more money)
• Highly rated 401K fund selections (see my cut and past from an article rating SWAPA 401K Retirement Funds as being #4 rated by BrightScope)
• Free Morningstar resources available for planning purposes;
• Targeted Retirement Fund mixing of funds; 95% of investments can be managed within a Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account (PCRA) allowing the pilot to choose any other investment options other than SWAPA chosen funds (manage your own risk); can be stocks, EFTs, funds, etc.
• 2 weeks of vacation 1-5 yrs, 3 weeks 6-10 yrs, 4 weeks 11-18 yrs, 5 weeks 19 yrs or more seniority;
• floating vacations can be sold back at 26.5 TFP and beginning by the time the deal is done, one can fly during your vacation for additional money if you choose to
• No PBS; won't come to pass either with the current efficiency of operations
• avg duty day of 8:35; avg flt time of just over 6 hrs;
• avg 1 "scheduled" aircraft swap in a 3 day; slightly over 1 hr ground time avg
• avg legs per day is 3 with avg flt time per leg of 2 hrs
• avg turn time on normal flights of around 30 minutes
• All of the above thanks to the multiple rigs built into the system to encourage more efficient/more flight time while on trips
• several family insurance options with one that is no cost to the pilot (yes there are reasonable benefits attached to it; I used it last year and good for those without small children
• Great FOs; lots of different types of background
• More FOs on the NC/MA than CAs, bodes well for making sure the junior pilots perspectives are being presented
• Healthy SWAPA reserve fund and sound fiscal oversight in place with a great Budget Director
• Great benefit staff at SWAPA that have helped many pilots who have become disabled or need questions answered quickly
• Ditto for contract admin....avg 10+ yrs of experience in dealing with contract issues by these folks
• Training center is not adversarial; new PC checkride format is positive change promoting better learning; questions on orals come from single study source...no surprises
• Vacation trading is now available on line just like regular trips
• Biding for open time now permits 1.5 bids allowing competitive bidding against those bidding straight time pay (come to SWAPA briefing on 30 Nov to learn more)
• Last phase of open time bidding (1Q11) will allow more automated bids for short notice call outs so less JA; however JA does pay 2.0 now versus 1.5 before
• Jetway trades with pilots legal to fly with just a phone call to scheduling...very nice on those last flights to domicile from your home!!!
• Gary Kelly as CEO!
• Multiple communication methods from the union to the membership (weekly burst emails, twice a month union newspaper, monthly call in conference call to get questions answered from the leadership, good comm during elections)
• Annual budget is presented to membership with general descriptions; voted on/approved by membership
• All BoD and officers are elected by membership; no appointments of execs by BoD; 2 reps per base (8)
• 1% dues
• Wright Amendment goes away mid-'13 making travel to Love (training center) much easier and great new route opportunities (limited to 16 gates but perfect place for -800 combined with 717s to outlying TX cities once change occurs)
• CAs do walkarounds (....just making sure the levity light is on)
• Pilots can have "standing bids" so no longer "I forgot to bid" will result in reserve hell
• More time at home for more pay (but you knew that!
• Never fired a pilot for interpreting valid write ups as "job action" activities

Could go on with more items but many of the obvious ones have been stated already....looking forward to resolving issues and returning value to the customers, shareholders and employees.


_____________
Hey, did you know your Pilot 401(k) – the SWAPA 401(k) - is rated the fourth-best in the country by an independent firm called BrightScope? BrightScope is a San Diego startup that helps participants and administrators answer these questions: Is your 401(k) cheap or expensive? Does it offer good investments or mediocre ones? Will your 401(k) take you through retirement without running out of money? They hope to be the "Morningstar" of the 401(k) universe. Go to their website and type in the name of a corporation, perhaps the one your spouse works for or you are otherwise interested in and they will give you the BrightScope rating for the 401(k) associated with that company.


The BrightScope algorithm calculates a single numerical score after considering 200-plus data points in broad categories such as total plan cost, company generosity and investment menu quality. SWAPA's 401(k) score is an 87. The top-rated plan is Saudi-Arabian Oil with a 93.


Hmmm. Tough to beat that one.


The next two are the United Airlines Pilots' 401(k) with a score of 91 and Wellington Investment Management Company's plan for their own employees, which weighs in third with an 89. To see the top 30 plans go the BrightScope website and click on the appropriate link.


How do we get to be #1 — or at least ahead of United pilots? Well, we intend to interact with the BrightScope team to figure out how we can do just that. One thing the United pilots do have is the equivalent of our ProfitSharing put directly into their 401(k) account. The NC, Strategic Planning Committee and your SWAPA BOD definitely have this on the radar for Negotiations 2011. In the meantime, if you read on the SWAPA Forum how our 401(k) is wanting, consider the sources.

 

[SWA/FO]

it would be a substantial pay cut

Ty smoking crack again.

 

[Ty Webb]

Ty smoking crack again.

So . . . Let me guess . . . . I'm going to LUV the SWA HIMMS (EAP) Plan :laugh::laugh:


Nice list, many positive improvements. We Trannies actually have a number of those benefits you list, but only some . . . maybe a quatta (how's that for Boston speak?). :laugh:

 

[Cruncher]

Chase, we have free internet at every hotel, at least we are supposed to. Nice list though.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

So . . . Let me guess . . . . I'm going to LUV the SWA HIMMS (EAP) Plan :laugh::laugh:


Nice list, many positive improvements. We Trannies actually have a number of those benefits you list, but only some . . . maybe a quatta (how's that for Boston speak?). :laugh:

Top of the seniority list must be a nice place and they must assign rose colored glasses because I can only see a couple on that list that we have. My list of the negatives would be pages long.

 

[71driver]

...........

 

[71driver]

Back to the reasons:

1. No more Carol
2. No more Carol
3. No more Carol

Southwest needs to find out about this gal. She will single handedly change the Southwest culture....not good!!

 

[SWA/FO]

What is her title?

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Screw scheduler