? SWA or CAL

[fastone]

All great info == thanks. I do not want this to turn into a SWA vs. CAL. Both are awesome! Both offer so much... I plan on having an ulcer by the time decisions are made... Thanks for the matter that you have given to grind on... More sleepless nights!

 

[SWA/FO]

Wait until you have a job offer from both and then decide that SWA is the way to go.

 

[MarylandONE]

Yours sure sounds great.



Not to mention helpful...

Just giving out the facts and you obviously don't get it.

 

[MarylandONE]

I'm guessing it is, based on the information he provided:

Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 5


Aircraft Experience: Only the 737-300/-700 matters
Flight Experience: SWA
Ratings: 737s
Total Time: LOTS

He probably doesn't even work there, with a line like "Only the 737-300/-700 matters". The Southwest guys I drink with at Mr. C's aren't lame enough to say that.

They don't have to say it. It's known. Knock on wood, maybe but fact is we have never furloughed and CAL has numerous times without even thinking about the employees. SWA may have considered furloughing but the fact remains they know what is important. Every other airline doesn't get it.

Go with SWA they are the only choice.

 

[buttercup]

Go with the one that will make your life the easiest now!! Don't even try to predict which one will be better in the future. DO NOT COMMUTE.. If you absoleutly love where you live pick the one with the easiest commute. If you are willing to move, pick the one that is based in the city you'd like to live in. Everything else will work it self out. Oh yeah, did I mention AVOID COMMUTING AT ALL COSTS!

 

[buttercup]

All great info == thanks. I do not want this to turn into a SWA vs. CAL. Both are awesome! Both offer so much... I plan on having an ulcer by the time decisions are made... Thanks for the matter that you have given to grind on... More sleepless nights!

The only ulcer you will get is if you commute!!

 

[cxcap]

Do you want to be awake when normal people are awake or do you want to fly on the backside of the clock and then try to adjust when you get home every single week of your life?

Do you want to be in your own country or strange countries with strange food?

If you get sick and need medical attention do you want to be in America or some third world country?

Do you want to ever have a chance at weekends off sometime soon or do you want to wait til you're 59 to be able to hold weekends off?

Do you want to fly with people who enjoy their job and are happy to be at work or grumpy old guys that are only working because they're on their 8th wife?

By the way, after about two weeks of being in the 777 you will give a rats @$$ if you're in the 777 or the 73. Its all about QOL.

 

[propjob27]

Its all about QOL.

Absolutely correct, and everyone has a different idea of what that is.

Do you want to be awake when normal people are awake or do you want to fly on the backside of the clock and then try to adjust when you get home every single week of your life?

Many of us, myself included, find flying one 7:45 minute leg from EWR/JFK to Amsterdam, followed by a 30 to 40 hour layover, and then one leg back alot "nicer" than flying 4 to 6 one hour legs per day, with 20 minute turns. Some other nice things about widebody/international flying:

• 90% of the time, there is no such thing as a "turn". You fly one leg, and then you go to the hotel.
• What is an "aircraft swap"?? You stow your bags, in a large cockpit, sit there, and then you don't touch them again until it's time to go to the hotel.
• You're fed meals in flight, some of them quite good, rather than trying to shove a burrito down your throat on a 20 minute "break" between flights.

Do you want to be in your own country or strange countries with strange food?

Many of us, myself included, didn't become airline pilots to spend our careers doing 11-18 hour overnights in the lower 48 states and eating at the Olive Garden. Or for that matter, even worse, doing turns. I know the days of flying all over the world for Pan Am and being treated like God are nearly dead. However, there still exists many decent opportunities to see the world, stay in 4 or 5 star hotels and get paid to do so. There's no sense of adventure at all in an ABQ layover, except for sleeping with the flight attendants, which one can do in other countries too. And it's harder for your wife or girlfriend to catch you that way.

If you get sick and need medical attention do you want to be in America or some third world country?

Call in sick and airline/deadhead home. Yes, people have gotten in car accidents and other emergencies on layovers in other countries and it can suck. I've been in a hospital on a Budapest layover after our hotel van was hit by a car. Thank god I wasn't hurt at all and they didn't have to touch me.

Do you want to ever have a chance at weekends off sometime soon or do you want to wait til you're 59 to be able to hold weekends off?

I'm not sure how tough this is at various airlines, so I can't say one way or the other.

Do you want to fly with people who enjoy their job and are happy to be at work or grumpy old guys that are only working because they're on their 8th wife?

Who cares. I'm not sure which is worse, listening to some guy bitch about his 3rd wife who was f ucking the milkman or listening to some other guy talk about how great this is and how he'd fly for free. The reality of that is, you don't really have to listen either way. If you don't like the coversation, don't pay any attention to it. The guy will eventually stop talking if you just nod and say "uh huh", "uh huh".

By the way, after about two weeks of being in the 777 you will give a rats @$$ if you're in the 777 or the 73.

No argument there. Which makes me laugh at the "I'd rather make 3 landings a day instead of 3 a month!!" argument. Again, who cares.

In the end, I'm not saying one particular type of airline is better than another. They just can be very different. Being a 777 or 756 FO for CAL is alot different than being a 737 FO for LUV. Is one better than the other? No. Hell, Southwest pays more. Is one better for some people than the other? Definately. Fastone has to make that choice for himself (if he's lucky enough to)

 

[AlbieF15]

...well...SWA or CAL...

...ain't it nice to be talking about which carrier to join vice asking when the next round of furloughs takes place or when the pool will finally start being drained? Here's to good choices!

 

[jbDC9]

They don't have to say it. It's known. Knock on wood, maybe but fact is we have never furloughed and CAL has numerous times without even thinking about the employees. SWA may have considered furloughing but the fact remains they know what is important. Every other airline doesn't get it.

Go with SWA they are the only choice.

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting tired of these chest thumping, Kool Aid drinking gung-ho SWA fags? Yeah guys, I'm sure SWA is a great place to be; however, it isn't the only place. There is life outside of Southwest, believe it or not.

Now, before you comment on how I must've been shot down at a SW interview, sour grapes and all that, I'll say nope, never interviewed there. Didn't even try. Why? I didn't have a 737 type at the time and I wasn't about to go pay for one on my own.