I am interested in something you stated. Why wouldn't you be happy at a place like DL? I told you my reasons for SWA (too many legs per day, one plane type, short haul and no long haul, West Texas, etc). Honestly, what are your own reasons? Thanks.
Bye Bye---General Lee
<Waveflyer> Hub and spoke, outsourcing, sellouts, and other sh/tty people who work there
Funny stuff.......thanks for the laugh...
Bye Bye---General Lee
Hey, YOU'RE the one who asked for an honest answer, and he gave it. Wave was a little more abrasive than he had to be, but they were honest answers. "Outsourcing" and "sellouts" are philosophical arguments, while "hub and spoke" and "people" are practical, everyday arguments. I won't go into his philosophical points, but to expound on the practical ones, I agree with him; that's why
I'm at Southwest. Here's what matters to me:
-- I did enough transoceanic international in the military; I don't care enough to do it now, because it's too hard on the body to do it on a regular basis, especially as I get older.
-- I don't like the idea of domestic hub and spoke flying where you do a bunch of turns from your fortress base. You're limited to a only a handful of cities, based on your base and aircraft type. At SWA, I can fly to literally every city on the Southwest route (and I have, excepting some of the newest AirTran additions). We get to overnight in literally every corner of the country, and soon to the Caribbean and Mexico and beyond. You can bid and/or trade for any city you want. There's none of that "damn, my equipment doesn't fly to that city!" crap. That's
also variety, and it's FANTASTIC, General!
-- I don't see "one plane type" as a negative. It allows you to have that variety of destinations, and I don't want to keep moving up (or down, in the bad times) and spend years, or even decades, chasing the "most desirable" end plane. I don't like hanging out at the training center, and I'd hate to think that I'd have to spend multiple weeks at a time there, learning a new plane or seat, 10 or 12 times in my career.
-- Regardless of payscale, our trips are more pay-efficient, so I can spend fewer days at work per month to make the amount of money I think I need. We're also more flexible on overtime than other airlines; if you want to bust your ass and fly more, you can
average 160tfp or more per month (normal line is ~95tfp). I don't, but you can if you want. Or just do it once in a while if you want. Whatever you think you need.
--"Too many legs per day" is obviously a judgment call. Some people actually like lots of legs (you remember; takeoffs and landings are the actual
flying part of our job), and some people like longer flights. Variety again. Regardless, our average stage length gets longer every year, and right now, our average trip is just
under three legs per work day. That's just about right in
my mind.
-- I haven't done a west Texas overnight in years, because there aren't that many to begin with, and I don't
personally want them (I'm too old to hang out with the tipsy college girls in LBB, and I like my BBQ to be more of the pork variety, which is sacrilege in Texas). So I pick other places to fly to. We have a lot of cities to choose from, so I get that variety.
-- As far as Wave's comment about sh1tty people, I'll say that there's good and bad people everywhere of course, but the people here at SWA are a drawing point. We almost always have a good time on overnights, often with multiple crews yukking it up together.
-- Better historical job security. My friends at other airlines tell me that ALPA tells them to "expect" one or two furloughs in their career. Why the hell would I want to expect that?
-- Better discounts at our hotels. Need I say more than "1-2-3"?
More than once I've seen other airline crews (incl Delta) pretending to be SWA, cashing in on our discounts.
Anyway, these are some of the reasons that I (and Wave) don't want to fly for Delta. Personally, Southwest is the
only airline I ever applied to. What does that tell you, General?
To each his own. You obviously like what you do at Delta, but
why do you find it so hard to believe that other people would prefer something else? I'm glad you like what you do; you should be glad that we like what we do. Know what I mean?
Bubba
