Southwest and flying in the Reserves/Guard

[Jakejett]

How does Southwest feel towards hiring a military pilot who flies part time in the Reserves/Guard? Is that a negative or neutral?

Thanks.

 

[Tanker Clown]

Southwest loves military guys. Especially the retired ones. I know some folks that are guard and reserve that fly there. They say it's great because when your on probation you can just mil leave the trips you don't like and then pick up open time at time and a half.

 

[GuppyWN]

How does Southwest feel towards hiring a military pilot who flies part time in the Reserves/Guard? Is that a negative or neutral?

Thanks.

If you can say "sh!t hot", "4 ship" or "back at the academy" you'll have no problem.

Seriously we've got I'd guess 100's of guard dudes. It's not a problem.

Gup

 

[fiel12]

Southwest loves military guys. Especially the retired ones. I know some folks that are guard and reserve that fly there. They say it's great because when your on probation you can just mil leave the trips you don't like and then pick up open time at time and a half.

2nd year pay, actually. FWIW.

 

[Tanker Clown]

Sorry. Whatever it is, mil guys can totally hook themselves up!

BTW, I heard that SWA is going to cut thier schedule another 13 flights in May. Is that on top of the January cuts? Good luck poolies. Looks like the water just got deeper.

 

[4 Fan Trashcan]

http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/military-friendly-employer

Looks like a pretty good track record....

WN was the only airline to make the Top 50 list of military friendly employers.

 

[T1bubba]

I doubt they consider it at all in hiring as they've become much more proactive about fully complying with USERRA over the last couple years.

There used to be a few assistant chief pilots that gave probationary pilots a hard time about their military drop, but they seem to have solved that issue by having one person in Dallas deal with military issues instead of all the various asst CP's.

 

[PreContact]

How does it work that you can drop your schedule and pickup trips at time and a half? Is this correct?

 

[RDG]

How does it work that you can drop your schedule and pickup trips at time and a half? Is this correct?

Close. You pick up trips at 2nd year pay. Its more than time and a half at first year.

 

[learherkjay]

How does it work that you can drop your schedule and pickup trips at time and a half? Is this correct?

Dropping trips for mil leave and then picking up open time for 2nd year rates could be considered an abuse of the system. If you are legitimately flying mil leave, then yes you can drop your trip. If you are then off of mil leave and have some free days on your schedule, then you can pick up open time for those days at 2yr rates. Regardless, guard/reservists should always try to bid around their mil schedules when possible.

 

[TZtoSWA]

This is more flame bait from Tanker Clown/Heavy Set/General Lee/ and now we add JakeJett to the list.

 

[Jakejett]

This is more flame bait from Tanker Clown/Heavy Set/General Lee/ and now we add JakeJett to the list.

Sorry pal, no flame bait here. Why does there always have to be some J.A. in the crowd? Let a guy ask a question here.

I want to get back in the Guard to finish my 20 but wondered if I should wait until I hired on at Southwest first. But since they may not hire any time soon and they may not hire me, I don't think I should wait on that. I just wondered if I still had a shot at Southwest once I got back in.

Thanks for the legitimate answers!!!

 

[Tanker Clown]

Jakejett, Don't worry about TZtoSWA. For some reason he has an ax to grind with people on this forum. If I were you I'd get chipping away at the 20 in the guard. The current plan is for no new hires for another 18 months or so (if the recession gets worse you can add time on to that). No interviews until 2011 now or the late 2010 timeframe.

 

[GuppyWN]

If you drop days for duty then fine. What says you can't pick up for 2nd year pay the day after your duty ceases?

Gup