SWA or DAL

[RedDogC130]

Typical bashing....ooooo I am better than you. Well mst people would have gone to DAL in 1999 and others would not have come here. Most will come to SWA in 2007 and not to DAL. Who cares. SWA F/O is running his/her computer again which means something smart will come out....smarta$$ that is. Everyone has a reason to stay where they are whether they are too proud to admit they would like to leave or whether they actually like flying airplanes and doing 5 legs a day. I like SWA but I don't know any different and for not that long, but I bet the same case applied to DAL 1999. It cracks me up about this bashing. But the typical players are usually involved...General Leeatard, Capt Megadeafhead, and SWA F/O/AH.

 

[Chest Rockwell]

Quote:
Originally Posted by bravodude
Everybody that bashes SW wishes they were there!




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.


Bye Bye--General Lee

You have not figured this out. Airplanes and pilots don't make money sitting on the ground. Go ahead enjoy your ground time.

By the way, I apologize for most all comments made by SWAFO. If he really works here (which I doubt) he is in no way representative of the typical SWA or any respectful airline pilot. SWA, like everyone else, is not immune to making mistakes in the hiring process.

 

[FDJ2]

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.

You may not like where you're heading, so just keep your head in the sand. All will be well.:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

[CA Calypso]

FDJ2,

A 41% increase in SWA's fuel cost while noting an 8.5% drop in AMR's doesn't tell the whole story. The following numbers are obviously not accurate because they change daily but they illustrate my point. SWA may now pay $55 brl. instead of $40 while AMR pays $60 instead of $66. While the hedge is less of an advantage it is still an advantage never the less.

Employee costs of $93K per year at SWA vs. $74K per year at AMR again is not an apples to apples comparison. SWA is much more productive allowing fewer employees per aircraft. It has been covered on here at length - it has something to do with an all 737 fleet.

Your comments about SWA's cash dwindling at a rate of 30% per year, increasing debt, and saying "What's your point" concerning stock buybacks just demonstrates a general lack of understanding about what is truly happening in the industry.

There are many at SWA, and the industry in general, that believe SWA may be a target of a LBO. These investors could essentially use SWA's cash, unencumbered assets, and low debt to purchase SWA (at an artificially high stock price) then strip it of value, and leave it burdened with billions in debt.

The 31% decrease in cash is directly attributable to these stock buybacks (look up the SEC filings). This takes cash off the balance sheet, reduces the number of outstanding shares (which are very diluted), and will hopefully increase the share price. All aimed at thwarting a LBO. Herb now also sits on the Dallas Federal Reserve Board - not a coincidence.

All these items you bring up sound very alarmist and make it appear that SWA is victim of circumstance but it is in fact SWA that has made some competitive choices. Look for more stock buy-backs ("dwindling cash") and more ("year over year") rising debt.

Airlines that are flush with cash, unencumbered assets, and ultra low debt won't stay that way as long as the capital markets are flush with cash and investors looking to make a quick billion.

What gives SWA the best shot at long term survival is obviously their management - they have been and are here for the long haul. What no one ever considers is that they have departments of strategic planners that are always looking ahead. Not six months to a year or two - but five, ten, fifteen years down the road. This place is not a revolving door for management types like US Airways, United, etc. (much to the their employees' dismay).

Someone pointed out that SWA has only been around for 30+ years and Delta, AMR, etc have been here for 70+ years. True, but 75% of their life the legacies were in a regulated industry. The last five years have been the final shakeout of deregulation - 9/11 was simply the catalyst. Hopefully there's still room left for all of us.

Since I've alienated myself in my first post (though I've lurked for years) I must say something to General.

I applaud your dedication to Delta - you should be proud of where you work. I am proud to work at SWA, and will defend it - as you should for Delta. But everyone at Delta is not doing St. Thomas turns just like everyone at SWA is not flying 6+ legs a day. When you come on here and rant of how your management is turning it around it gets old.

I remember when Song started and you said it was a great new beginning and would help turn Delta around. Song was quietly pulled down but spinned that it helped Delta learn what customers wanted. Couldn't managment have just studied the market (their competition) or asked their customers what they wanted? This might have saved millions in aircraft painting, employee training, marketing, etc. I never understood how management could turn their back on what made them the powerhouse they were - a full service airline! Why did they think it would work when so many failed before - i.e. Shuttle By United, C Lite, Metrojet, and even Delta Express?

In one of your last posts you even said that Delta now realized that what their customers wanted was First Class availablity and even some RJ's are getting it. What a miraculous discovery! It's a shame that this discovery was learned on the backs of hard working Delta employees!

I guess my point is that you lose credibilty when you just repeat the mantra of corporate without ever questioning it. Too many about faces...

My best friend is a Delta 756 FO. He has been with Delta nearly eight years and while he enjoys the flying he does not share your optimism concerning the future. He says it is nothing like the Delta family he aspired to work for and actually enjoyed for a few years.

This may slowly be happening at SWA as well. We have our problems and
hopefully will work through them.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this post to be adversarial. It just gets tiring listening to people predict the demise of SWA. Some of them actually are looking forward to it and revel in potentially bad news for SWA. Most of it is disinformation - sometimes you just have to speak up and raise the bs flag.

 

['72Gremlin]

FDJ2,

I remember when Song started and you said it was a great new beginning and would help turn Delta around. Song was quietly pulled down but spinned that it helped Delta learn what customers wanted.

quote]

First post and you're quoting the GenLee from his Song days? Can't wait for your second post.

 

[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.