SWA or DAL

[Noserider76]

It must be fun flying for a BANKRUPT carrier? Delta sucks and is going nowhere very slowly.

You don't even have a horse in this race.

My good buds at SWA are embarassed by you, dude. How about a little mutual respect on both sides.

 

[capt. megadeth]

If he really works here (which I doubt) he is in no way representative of the typical SWA or any respectful airline pilot.

I am pretty sure he does work for you guys (unfortunately). Well, at least he's not at UPS. Goody for me.

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

Your only response is that SWAs could sell their aircraft.

Great, you've got the answer, without ever having to deal with the fact that employee costs that are growing at over 9%/year and are now significantly higher than AMR's, cash that has been depleted by 30% year over year, fuel costs that have increased by 41%, when the competitions has decrease of 8.5%, long term debt that has risen 12.4% year over year and shrinking profits, margins and earnings. Don't think twice about it, all is well.

I'm not saying the decline of SWA is imminent, but the trend lines in cost, cash and debt will have to change. You could pretend it's a non-issue, but if it doesn't turn around eventually you'll have to deal with a very ugly situation.

No one mentioned it when SWA's cash position jumped from 1.6 Bil to 2.1 in late '05. Now it went down again as some hedges were sold at a loss and new ones purchased. I believe debt went down then too. It's been hovering at 2 bil for a while. As the revenue and assets have gone up, it actually looks better.

Kinda easy to stomach Delta's higher CASM when flights into and out of CVG go for $700 a ticket. SWA charges 1/7 to 1/5 of that in most markets and never more than 1/3.

You tell me, how much can SWA raise fares to cover higher fuel costs, profit sharing and heavily subsidized health care benefits??

Who is the one looking to "fix" payrates that have been cut too much?

No, I don't have all the answers. But lets look at statistics in perspective. SWA has spent a lot to upgrade computer networks, reworked the reservation system and expanded their training center. They spend a ton on training 600 new pilots every year, including their hotel bill.

The only expense that looks like trouble is the opening of a new domicile. But that has been delayed so long the savings from no overnights there will pay for it in no time.

FDJ2, I wish you the best. Lets not get too nasty discussing this.

When the CASM shows a higher cost it will impress me. Until then, increases from reallly low numbers will not

 

[canyonblue]

By the way, I apologize for most all comments made by SWAFO.

I won't. Sorry Chest, but they ask for it when you read some of the posts that these morons churn out. This is more of the same pathetic writing that many of these idiots continue to write. Look at all of the "join date" years, and you will see that SWA/FO and I have been putting up with this for way too many years now, to really care what they think. We were on here way before 9/11, (they reset all of the join dates to Aug 2001 for those that were on here prior to that) and before 9/11 you would not find anyone from DAL, UAL, AA etc, giving at rats a** about SWA. After 9/11, we kept on hiring and soon the only activity on FI.com was SWA. That is when it all changed and soon every SWA thread would have the usual players on it, some have gone, and soon are replaced by a new breed of SWA hater club members. This message board has really gone bad, and has really turned out to be not much more than a pilot b!tch board. It has lost it's informative value and gained only in entertainment value. The opinions expressed here are not for print in the Wall Street Journal, so I could care less what any SWA pilot has to say about Delta, etc.

We will still be reading the same things here until 2015, or when these other guys stop SWA bashing because they won't have that psychological need to. For them it will be like before 9/11 again, and for this board it will be too. Never saw any of this before 9/11, and every once in awhile you need to toss in an SWA/FO grenade.

 

[SWA/FO]

And May 1st we will be flying for a non BK carrier

Its not May yet, is it? The SWA/FO calls it like he sees it. I'm not running for President.

 

[BVT94]

Its not May yet, is it? The SWA/FO calls it like he sees it. I'm not running for President.

How long before it's SWA/CA?

 

[135fr8r]

DAL or SWA????? Wow, that's one question I would never ask. Use some condom sense......lol. No, really, good luck to ya.

 

[FDJ2]

FDJ2, I wish you the best. Lets not get too nasty discussing this.

Good enough. We'll see how it all plays out. SWA is still in relatively good shape, but there are some troubling indicators. The good news is that SWA has some time to turn it around. I wish you well.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

The reason the other airlines suck is because the corporate raiders got to them. The most successful companies usually are the ones still under original ownership.

 

[SWA/FO]

How long before it's SWA/CA?

Some say October...some say December. That is if they don't hold me back a year. You see that last trip I did? Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! $$$$$ 13 legs a day! and they only pay me for 6!!!

 

[Tejas-Jet]

Quote:

Really, honestly, I don't want to fly the same plane for 30 years and do UP TO 5 or 6 legs a day with 25 min turns.

And if one dosen't want to...they shouldn't come here. I was once at a "legacy" carrier....you know, wide bodies, International routes, hub-and-spoke, employee group "tribalism", and all that comes with it. I made the choice to leave there and come to SWA...12 years ago.

I knew what i was getting into. I knew I would fly the same type of airplane for the rest of my career....I knew, I wouldn't fly international here....I knew, there were 25 minute - some 20, and back when I came here, some were even 15 minute- turns.

But I also knew that we had a great management team running this company. All the leadership was "home grown", meaning that when one was promoted, you wouldn't see a sudden shift in the corporate plan like we've seen with guys like Wolf, Leo, Carty, Grienstein, Parker and others. Kelleher, Parker or Gary have yet to lie to me the way others have been lied to by the other guys

I'd rather do a 25 minute turn than do a 3:55 hub sit around...we did that a bunch at my old "legacy" carrier.

5-6 leg days? Yes, there are some...I also knew that before I came here. Those kinds of days are not the majority. Even when I was junior, if I didn't bid for those kids of days...I wouldn't get them. Having said that, I have flown some in the past...by choice. Just about all of my trips are of the 2-3-4 leg per day variety.

Pilot do complain by nature. But here at SWA, I have yet to hear of anyone complaining of those 5-6 leg days. It's not one of the big items in our current contract talks.

When 9/11 happened, other managements looked to the employees jobs/benefits to keep their companies going. Here at SWA, 3 days later on 9/14, Management looked to the employees to give them their profit sharing bonus money.

Here at SWA, you'll make a good, comfortable living. My ( original issue) wife and I will have put our youngest through college this year, we live in the home of our dreams, on 4 acres of land and have all that we will ever need.

This place isn't for everybody (Thank goodness)...but it's been great for me.

Tejas

 

[Heavy Set]

Its not May yet, is it? The SWA/FO calls it like he sees it. I'm not running for President.

You really are full of yourself. Southwest, besides the pay, is nothing more than a glorified regional.

 

[SWA/FO]

You really are full of yourself. Southwest, besides the pay, is nothing more than a glorified regional.

Do you know the SWA/FO? I doubt it.

 

[Howard Hughes]

And if one dosen't want to...they shouldn't come here. I was once at a "legacy" carrier....you know, wide bodies, International routes, hub-and-spoke, employee group "tribalism", and all that comes with it. I made the choice to leave there and come to SWA...12 years ago.

I knew what i was getting into. I knew I would fly the same type of airplane for the rest of my career....I knew, I wouldn't fly international here....I knew, there were 25 minute - some 20, and back when I came here, some were even 15 minute- turns.

But I also knew that we had a great management team running this company. All the leadership was "home grown", meaning that when one was promoted, you wouldn't see a sudden shift in the corporate plan like we've seen with guys like Wolf, Leo, Carty, Grienstein, Parker and others. Kelleher, Parker or Gary have yet to lie to me the way others have been lied to by the other guys

I'd rather do a 25 minute turn than do a 3:55 hub sit around...we did that a bunch at my old "legacy" carrier.

5-6 leg days? Yes, there are some...I also knew that before I came here. Those kinds of days are not the majority. Even when I was junior, if I didn't bid for those kids of days...I wouldn't get them. Having said that, I have flown some in the past...by choice. Just about all of my trips are of the 2-3-4 leg per day variety.

Pilot do complain by nature. But here at SWA, I have yet to hear of anyone complaining of those 5-6 leg days. It's not one of the big items in our current contract talks.

When 9/11 happened, other managements looked to the employees jobs/benefits to keep their companies going. Here at SWA, 3 days later on 9/14, Management looked to the employees to give them their profit sharing bonus money.

Here at SWA, you'll make a good, comfortable living. My ( original issue) wife and I will have put our youngest through college this year, we live in the home of our dreams, on 4 acres of land and have all that we will ever need.

This place isn't for everybody (Thank goodness)...but it's been great for me.

Tejas

Just just to be sure, what carrier did you fly for and you were on the 737 there as well before going to SWA? Just curious. A belated congrats on getting to SWA btw!

 

[Tejas-Jet]

Just just to be sure, what carrier did you fly for and you were on the 737 there as well before going to SWA? Just curious. A belated congrats on getting to SWA btw!

Well...without giving any names...yes I did fly the 737 while I was there, got the type and let SWA know I was available the very next day.

The carrier I was with has been in Bankruptcy. And they tend to furlough pilots when things don't go according to plan...and they have a horrible labor/management relationship....Ok, ok, ok...and they have started to change their paint scheme ( yet, again) in the last few years. I hope that narrows it down.

Based on what I saw when I was there, I always felt they would end up in BK...it just happened a few years later than I thought it would.

Tejas