Southwest Pilots Aggressively Push Age 65

[Bavarian Chef]

Lets all type in jet blue color!!! Yeah!! Bavarain Chief!!

Why you hanging out on a Southwest Airlines thread? No excitment at your job? You feeling blue? :crying: You know you're allowed to reapply after 1 year. Thousands of options - you don't know? Some of the senior guys have 35,000 shares @ something like 3 bucks a share.

35,000 X 17.50 = $612500 - 105000 (cost of options) = $507500 not bad cash for 10 years worth of work.

May I ask how they are distributed and when? Can you give us yours for example? Are they like jb, where every pilot recieves a set? Are they merit based? Bueller?

 

[brownie]

instead of fighting for this issue, make your union fight for real retirement so you don't have to hose 12000 guys on furlogh for your selfish cause and you don't have to fly 6 legs a day until retirement or drop dead which ever comes first.

 

[SWA/FO]

Based on date of hire... the quoted stock above is from the 1995 grants and the stock split a few times.

New stock options in 2002 with our extention to the contract. You vest each month. I think I get 190 shares a month throughout the contract. I have something like 6000+ shares most to be exercised by 2014. Just bonus money baby!!!

 

[Flopgut]

Bake:

Perhaps no one would need this relief if you guys didn't go to work with an inadequate retirement in the first place?

Tell you what I'm doing. I'm getting myself ready no matter what. Some may remember, you obviously don't, my father was an airline pilot and lost his entire, fully funded retirement plan around 50 yrs old. This business can get ugly quick no matter who you are; We got through it with some hard work and we didn't get to plan for it. You SWA guys sound so freakin desperate theres no way you could get through what my family did. A lot of you guys have worked there 20+ years, you now act completely ambushed! It's sad, most successful airline can't retire pilots comfortably. (or so you would have us all believe) Another thing I'm doing is towing the line. ALPA doesn't want it changed. I also support protecting the lump sum option at CAL. Recent legislation change efforts just about doused that for us and it's a big deal. Guys with around 25 yrs leave here with about 700k. (some as much as 900k)

I'm familiar with many of the Braniff types at SWA. They've got 20 or so years and most could get out OK. Frankly, it surprises me that they have not done better on the stock, right? It's really a mystery to me but I'm told it's not all it's cracked up to be. Bottom line, they can retire and get by OK, but they want the extra five cause it's all gravy at this point. It's the easiest money they'll ever make really.

Bottom line, we should not feed that greed imperative. We don't need to re-amortize the careers of everyone else for the lopsided benefit of a few. Where an FO might forego 300k in earnings for the five extra years, a CA makes around 3 times that amount in the same five years! The FO that took the hit won't get that back at all unless they also work past 60.

You SWA guys should keep working on a "local" solution to your problem. Expand the use of your sick leave for medical benefits age 60+. Start your own fund somehow, put a jar on every ticket counter maybe. Tell each of your customers how tough it is to be a SWA pilot post age 60, see if they want to throw in a few extra bucks. My guess is they'll tell you a story about the $8 ticket they bought to KSAT and ask you to share the wisdom in that with regard to your current retirement dilemna.

 

[SWA/FO]

Brownie this is not the cargo message board. You guys are doing fine. Don't let us interfere in your process. Why don't you guys give the work groups $hit that gave things back. We have not given anything back.

 

[Ex737Driver]

Based on date of hire... the quoted stock above is from the 1995 grants and the stock split a few times.

New stock options in 2002 with our extention to the contract. You vest each month. I think I get 190 shares a month throughout the contract. I have something like 6000+ shares most to be exercised by 2014. Just bonus money baby!!!

So again, where is your retirement?

 

[Bavarian Chef]

Based on date of hire... the quoted stock above is from the 1995 grants and the stock split a few times.

New stock options in 2002 with our extention to the contract. You vest each month. I think I get 190 shares a month throughout the contract. I have something like 6000+ shares most to be exercised by 2014. Just bonus money baby!!!

And the price? Does it adjust every month? Too bad they aren't immediately vestable.

 

[SWA/FO]

why do you ^ucking care about me? I will be ok. I don't work for CAL. Worry about yourself. You have all the answers, we have it all wrong at Southwest. Now you guys have to negioate your new contracts based on what we have? Why all the concern? I don't care what you have. It makes no difference to me. You will never see CAL + 1% at Southwest Airlines, we do our own thing.

 

[SWA/FO]

And the price? Does it adjust every month? Too bad they aren't immediately vestable

they are vested at 190 a month. You can do what you want with them. Our price for the 2002 options is 12.83. Most have held onto them waiting for a higher price, we gots some time.

 

[SWA/FO]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060718/cgtu056.html?.v=56
Well, at least they look like they are trying....

looks like NWA pilots might want to fly past 60? Where is their A plan? Where is the B plan? Looks like plan C to me.

 

[Bavarian Chef]

Not too shabby. Waiting is a tough game though. We have some at jb with options in the 1-2 dollar range. Wonder if they sold at that irrational high a few years back?

I guess Southwest did solve the Rubik's Cube in 2 seconds. I also heard Southwest bowled a 300 game (5,000 times). Oh, and Southwest is the only entity that can make Chuck Norris cry.

 

[AA767AV8TOR]

why do you ^ucking care about me? I will be ok. I don't work for CAL. Worry about yourself. You have all the answers, we have it all wrong at Southwest. Now you guys have to negioate your new contracts based on what we have? Why all the concern? I don't care what you have. It makes no difference to me. You will never see CAL + 1% at Southwest Airlines, we do our own thing.

SWA/FO,

It appears that you think we all ride our own horse here in the industry. How I wish that were true. Whether you like it not, we all in the industry are tied together for better or worse. Management continually plays us off one another whether a legacy, regional, freight, you name it.

It’s when SWA doesn’t have an adequate retirement plan, goes to the government for relief and now I have to pay the price because SWAPA couldn’t negotiate a good retirement package that pisses me off. It’s like you didn’t give any consideration for the rest of the industry.

Contracts come and go, companies go up and down. Right now, Southwest is amongst the tops. With United, NWA and Delta, I can understand their reasoning, but with Southwest it’s incomprehensible what you are doing. Given the strength of your company along with your leverage, SWAPA should be able to negotiate an adequate retirement package so you can adequately retire at age 60.

Do us all a favor and force your negotiating team to bring back a solid retirement plan.

Age 60 is a built in early retirement and you guys are going to lose it for all of us.

AA767AV8TOR

 

[SWA/FO]

It’s when SWA doesn’t have an adequate retirement plan, goes to the government for relief and now I have to pay the price because SWAPA couldn’t negotiate a good retirement package that pisses me off. It’s like you didn’t give any consideration for the rest of the industry.

Look what "looking out of for the industry" got DAL? The industry is what it is... I can only worry about me and SWA. You think UAL, USair, DAL and NWA guys are worrying about what their paycuts are doing to the industry? No , they are trying to take care of # 1, survive.

 

[The Prussian]

Age 60 is a built in early retirement and you guys are going to lose it for all of us.

This is the second time you've characterized age 60 as "early retirement"....in your earlier post #4, you made the same statement. If age 60 is "early",....then what is "normal" retirement age....65???

 

[Flopgut]

why do you ^ucking care about me? I will be ok. I don't work for CAL. Worry about yourself. You have all the answers, we have it all wrong at Southwest. Now you guys have to negioate your new contracts based on what we have? Why all the concern? I don't care what you have. It makes no difference to me. You will never see CAL + 1% at Southwest Airlines, we do our own thing.

Hey bud, don't flatter yourself. We don't care so much about "you", we care about what SWA pilots as a whole are up to. Your not doing your own thing by pushing for changes that affect all of us.

For arguement sake, please estimate how much a SWA pilot with 20-25 years has in retirement if they started in the mid 80s. If you wouldn't mind.