Southwest Offers CASH for Pilots to leave!

[becket]

I'll say upfront, I'm not trying to flame anyone here, but in the past, at other airlines, a paid early out program preceded furloughs.

I'm NOT saying/wishing any furloughs will actually happen at SWA, I just find this odd...

 

[PropPiedmont]

The last one resulted in zero pilots taking the buyout and zero furloughs.

Hope the zero furlough part stays the same.

 

[Falconjet]

Hey, how about that looming pilot shortage? Thanks again SWAPA, APAAD and ALPA. What a bunch of dumb asses.

FJ

 

[Sandhawk]

Hey, how about that looming pilot shortage? Thanks again SWAPA, APAAD and ALPA. What a bunch of dumb asses.

FJ

I wonder what their stand will be on Age-70 in a few years ???

:smash:

 

[PropPiedmont]

I wonder what their stand will be on Age-70 in a few years ???

:smash:

What do you mean, "...in a few years ???" They're already working on it.

 

[satpak77]

it is interesting to note that this is going into a time frame (2010-2012.....we are basically at 2009.5 right now) where the fuel hedges will be running out, at least at the prices that offered competitive advantage when everybody else was paying 110 a barrel.

 

[jtf]

Are they offering anything other than money- like continued health care until medicare kicks in? A 60 or 61 year old guy could very well spend most of the buyout on family health insurance by the time they are eligible for medicare. The top guys at NetJets don't make anything near what the top guys at WN make, but their buyout is for about twice the money and health care on top of it. I'd think WN could sweeten the deal considerably, save themselves a lot of money down the line, and actually get a reasonable amount of pilots to take it. As it is presented here, I'd have a hard time believing many would take it. At least pilots have been offered something and it may help some enjoy retirement earlier.

 

[Herkdrv]

What do you mean, "...in a few years ???" They're already working on it.

For what its worth SWAPA sent out an email a couple of weeks ago saying they DO NOT support any changes at this time. Of course they might change their minds once the guys get closer to 65 uke:

 

[satpak77]

In my opinion there is a bigger reason behind this and if nobody (well, besides three dudes) takes it, I wonder what is next. Offering "buyouts" to employees is in many cases the pre-furlough phase. Basically SWA has already acknowledged that "we have more bodies than we need". Some posters above have also stated this.

If the buyouts do not work, then what?

 

[TV9Driver]

sooooo.....I won't be getting a class date any time soon?