Southwest Plans Mexico Codeshare

[LJDRVR]

I posted this on the other SWA thread...

Having flown a bit in Mexico, I think we need to keep in mind that those stops wouldn't all fit into the present SWA business model. There are not many places were you will get a 30 min or less turn. Things just don't happen that way.
Don't yell Philly, because a lot of times you do get a decent turn there (and sometimes you don't), but I don't see ANY short turns in Cabo, Mazatlan, etc...
How will that fit?

No flame, just something to keep in mind.

Actually, I've been flying to Mexican destinations for years and I'll tell you this:

I would trade any of our domestic outstation or hub crews in a New York minute for the folks running our operations in Mexico. When you pull on to the ramp they are waiting, wands held high into the air. They take great care of our passengers with no drama whatsoever. Oftentimes, there is a set of stairs put on the rear of the airplane. The cleaing crew swarms like locust through the cabin and disappears out the back as quickly as they arrived.

Everybody takes pride in their job and busts ass.

Not picking on you, but what are you talking about?

PS - This isn't an airline issue, these are my experiences at over twenty different outstations in Mexico. I'd like to claim that perhaps it's my company doing a better job hiring the right folks than yours, but that's BS - one only need to look at our hubs to see what a piss-poor piece of leadership they're capable of in that arena. This is a cultural issue.

 

[LJDRVR]

You've got a lot of one runway, non-radar, terrain factor airports in Mexico. SWA is going to try to game it up just like it's Austin, TX and it ain't going to work. To the extent we know what your flying behavior will cause problems down there, will highlight the same behavior we shouldn't have to put up with here. But you get away with it in the US. I think GK is factoring this in. He doesn't want to lose that.

Your argument is devoid of merit. The 50-seat operators went in there with a much lower level of experience, both overall and on their airplanes, yet they managed to pull it off. Poorly trained charter pilots without any international training manage to learn as they go.

SW hires quality folks with lots of flying ability and experience. Those individuals then fly the living hell out of the 737, day after day, month after month.

They could go into Mexico safely and quickly if they chose to. It's not rocket science.

PS - what about their demogrpahics? Hundreds if not thousands of pilots with regional/charter experience in Mexican airspace. How many pilots with C-130, C-5, C-141, C-9 or C-21 expereince? Close to a thousand? Hell, I can think of two folks on FI from the 89th. (BH and ZM) I would put my kids on those guy's jets going anywhere.

 

[Flopgut]

Your argument is devoid of merit. The 50-seat operators went in there with a much lower level of experience, both overall and on their airplanes, yet they managed to pull it off. Poorly trained charter pilots without any international training manage to learn as they go.

SW hires quality folks with lots of flying ability and experience. Those individuals then fly the living hell out of the 737, day after day, month after month.

They could go into Mexico safely and quickly if they chose to. It's not rocket science.

PS - what about their demogrpahics? Hundreds if not thousands of pilots with regional/charter experience in Mexican airspace. How many pilots with C-130, C-5, C-141, C-9 or C-21 expereince? Close to a thousand? Hell, I can think of two folks on FI from the 89th. (BH and ZM) I would put my kids on those guy's jets going anywhere.

I'm not saying SWA pilots aren't good sticks, quite the opposite. What I'm saying is, SWA pilots game the system and it won't work in Mexico. For instance, Cancun can get busy and sometimes you have to fly the full apch. ATC sequences with timed headings and speed assignments and when everybody minds it works. When you have a single runway and landing traffic it doesn't matter if you taxi at 75 mph.

Now, a lot of us are used to it and and won't get surprised by a SWA stunt. I would worry about the non-sked European operators who won't be ready for an ambush. They don't have a lot of gas/options by the time they get there and they follow the instructions to the letter. They won't be ready for the guys who don't.

SWA hires excellent pilots. I'm not saying they can't cut the gig.

*I am also not suggesting SWA pilots can't-not game the system. I'm sure SWA guys could adapt. I just don't think GK wants you to. You guys figure out you can slow down and share airspace in Mexico, that might catch on. God forbid.

 

[siucavflight]

He and Herb have NEVER yet given us a reason to believe that they don't have our best interests in mind.

Wow, you have ingested quite a bit of kool-aid!

 

[Quimby]

I'm not saying SWA pilots aren't good sticks, quite the opposite. What I'm saying is, SWA pilots game the system and it won't work in Mexico. For instance, Cancun can get busy and sometimes you have to fly the full apch. ATC sequences with timed headings and speed assignments and when everybody minds it works. When you have a single runway and landing traffic it doesn't matter if you taxi at 75 mph.

Now, a lot of us are used to it and and won't get surprised by a SWA stunt. I would worry about the non-sked European operators who won't be ready for an ambush. They don't have a lot of gas/options by the time they get there and they follow the instructions to the letter. They won't be ready for the guys who don't.

SWA hires excellent pilots. I'm not saying they can't cut the gig.

*I am also not suggesting SWA pilots can't-not game the system. I'm sure SWA guys could adapt. I just don't think GK wants you to. You guys figure out you can slow down and share airspace in Mexico, that might catch on. God forbid.

CUN isn't that hard, give me a break...

 

[jacksjj]

Wow, Republic seems to be everywhere.....

Our mgmt wont stop until they p!ss off the entire pilot group of every carrier out there but our own 3. They dont care about us.

 

[snozberry]

None of it is that hard. Everybody that comes here already has at least 1300 hrs PIC. Volaris has only been in business for 2 years. I bet most of our FO's have just as much international experience, if not more, then many of the Volaris crews. Furthermore, West Jet...Ok, They're established. But Volaris? Come on, in business for 2 years. GK better be getting some serious kick backs because he just made that company. 2 years....wtf?

 

[Tanker Clown]

International flying is the big leagues. Southwest is probably a decade or so from being able to make it happen. This will fill the void until then. Sounds like the company found a way to make money without using any of it's own capital. Sounds like a great move...all they have to do is make sure the pilots do nothing. FYI, bitching on FI/PPrune/APC doesn't really count. This shouldn't be hard.

 

[LJDRVR]

International flying is the big leagues. Southwest is probably a decade or so from being able to make it happen. This will fill the void until then. Sounds like the company found a way to make money without using any of it's own capital. Sounds like a great move...all they have to do is make sure the pilots do nothing. FYI, bitching on FI/PPrune/APC doesn't really count. This shouldn't be hard.

You even suck at flamebait.

 

[Tanker Clown]

OK...Hack your clock. Post again in 10 years. SWA will still be stateside only. It's almost 2009 and they are finally getting to MSP.