SWA Classes

[Full of LUV]

It's a win-win for SWA. With the retired military O-4 (Major or Lt. Commander) and O-5 (Lt. Colonel and Commander) they get a 42-44 year old already bringing in between $3,500-3,900/month in retainer (even retired military are still on retainer until 60 when they become fully retired). That same individual as a 5 year SWA FO in their upper 40's will now be bringing in close to $200K per year combined assuming COLAs are still being paid out by Uncle Sam. Pretty sweet gig and good for SWA as they now have someone who probably will not want to rock the boat.

I don't know about that, what about the fact that a military retired officer has $50K plus medical ensuring he won't starve during a strike.... the civillian has a little bit more stress in the game.

 

[scoreboardII]

Yah, but what % of Mil guys hired will ever see a retirement?

not sure what your asking. How many are retired, are going to be retired? Or are you alluding to the governments ability to pay it's debts? Trust me, you always pay the military retiree, he has a skill set to valuable to let it go to the other side.

 

[jonjuan]

not sure what your asking. How many are retired, are going to be retired? Or are you alluding to the governments ability to pay it's debts? Trust me, you always pay the military retiree, he has a skill set to valuable to let it go to the other side.

I just meant the fact that many punch out prior to 20 and may not stay in the reserves.

 

[scoreboardII]

I just meant the fact that many punch out prior to 20 and may not stay in the reserves.

I believe the ratio of retirees to those still in the guard/reserve or just plain out, is something along the lines of 80% retired, 20% separated or guard reserve. YMMV.

 

[outerlimits]

Any news of when Southwest is going to open the app. Window? My captain was asking a SWA pilot today at Starbucks ,but he did not know.

 

[Bake]

I think we are done hiring for this year. The last classes will be my AT brothers and sisters coming to class to sing kumbaya with us SWA guys/gals.

 

[waveflyer]

Yes, as stated, retiree pay, plus FO pay, equals nice retirement.

All civies want/need the full monty that a 121 gig gives, therefore, more likely to jump ship if upgrades do not happen.

Nice try, nice theory and nice spin on the age old mil-civ debate. But you got to know it isn't true- and IF classes are that far sprung to the mil side- the PD is going to be hearing it from me everyday (it's not though).

My military friends are much more pissed about air tran and stagnation than my civilian friends-
Why? You tell me- but IMO there's a lack of perspective from the mil guys here who have never experienced a truly bad airline culture and unethical mgmt. Or a truly bad paycheck.

I hear you on pensions - which is nice and well earned- but more money is always more money-plus, a lot of mil pilots have never been 121 captains, but have been in positions of greater authority than any 121 capt in the past and tend to want that back for ego reasons-
With outsourcing gone crazy, literally all civilians have been captains for years and years and dont need the ego trip of it. You're right, we're in it for the money, but after flying a decade of regional schedules, we also want quality of life even more. We're getting paid more than we ever have and want the time to enjoy it.
Bottom line- everybody wants growth and movement and the upgrades that follow-
Saying one group is better suited to the new mature Swapa pilot list is just self serving spin-

 

[texman]

Wave it is all about the money, let's hope that it can stay good at Swa. We just need to look at the past and learn from it.