swa junior bases

[whiff]

I know in the past the bases have been posted. I was just curious lately about how junior phx has been running and what is the current base most new hires are getting. Thanks for any info.

 

[BlackCoffee]

I last heard from a jumpseater that bwi and oak were the most junior with the fastest upgrade in bwi.

 

[PilotAg]

At this time, all new hires are going to Oakland. I believe PHX is the next junior base.

 

[saabcaptain]

where does chicago stand in terms of FO/CAPT seniority?

 

[juan2go]

MDW

Junior for cpts. Not sure about f/o's.

Juan.

 

[Snoopy58]

F/O seniority and Capt seniority are two different things. It's entirely possible for the junior F/O's to all go to OAK but the most junior capts to be upgrading at BWI. And six months later that picture may look different again. Here are the bottom F/O's in each base, by date of "hire" (see below), and number of pilots that F/O is ABOVE THE MOST JUNIOR F/O IN THE SYSTEM:

DAL 6Sep01 445
MCO 14Feb03 143
HOU 28Feb03 111
MDW 2May03 82
PHX 16May03 54
BWI 16May03 46
OAK 22Jan04 0 (!)

This is a snapshot in time, and it looks different from the same thing I did several months ago, and it will look different several months from now. The general trend lately is that OAK was most junior (everybody spent a couple months there, until about 2 classes had come in behind you), then PHX, then MDW/BWI/sometimes HOU. Lately, however, BWI has expanded by a couple dozen pilots, and so at the moment it is (at the very bottom) more junior than PHX is. I don't have much guess if that will be the case for very long.

Figure 24 newhires per class, and you have a sense for how long until you can hold each base: OAK immediately, BWI with about 2 classes on-line behind you, PHX about 2-3, MDW about 3-4, HOU about 5, MCO about 6, and DAL, well, nevermind... by the time 20 classes are behind the guys coming in now, things will be different enough that this snapshot is obsolete!

I posted dates that come from the scheduling system -- it's NOT the "date of hire," but the closest thing to it that's available in the system, which is generally a couple weeks AFTER the d.o.h., but it varies a bit. In any case, though, the relevant point is NOT "how many months" a pilot has been on line, but HOW MANY CLASSES are on line behind him. A pilot who starts with the first class of the year may have 10 classes behind him in 5 months & can hold anywhere but DAL, while somebody in the last class of the year may still be in the bottom 24 in OAK after 5 months on the line!

One can do the same sort of number-grinding with captains, but by the time anyone coming on-line today is ready to upgrade, the picture will look so vastly different that it's hardly worth the effort. Besides, we're hearing either TPA or LAS will open as a crew base in 2005, so that will change the entire picture a bit.

Also worth noting, the list of most junior-to-most senior-bases will look different for somebody at a different place on the seniority list: for somebody who's been here 4 years, for instance, OAK is probably his best seniority and DAL his worst, but MDW might be his next best, followed by BWI and HOU, then PHX and MCO. It all depends on the demographics of the pilots above "you" in seniority -- did lots of them leave BWI for MCO when it opened? Did the hiring immediately preceding yours include lots of western-U.S. guys who're all in PHX now? And so forth.

Hope this helps, and poolies & wannabe poolies, please feel free to PM me or post questions here if this was more confusing than helpful.

Cheers,

Snoopy

 

[cactuspilot]

phx and bwi are pretty close. you should be able to get phx or bwi when the second class behind you gets assigned a base. or about 3 months after they( 2nd class behind you) start class..maybe

i have no idea what will happen when they open a new base.
hope that helps a little.

the people in oak are great to work with while your there

 

[Benhuntn]

Thanks Snoopy

Thanks Snoopy,

I didn't post the question but I sure did appreciate the answer. As a poolie who was wondering what to expect after training, you sure made the picture much clearer. I am Hoping to make BWI asap. Just not to crazy about a 5 hour commute to the West Coast. But after 2 yrs. in the pool I can do it until I am able to get BWI.