SWA or DAL

[capt. megadeth]

What's up Mega ? How's ONT treating you ?

It's great. I'm in the Pac Rim right now.

 

[737 Pylt]

I did it in a month and a half. :beer:

I guess that's pretty easy when you live in your parents' basement!
:laugh: :laugh:

737

 

[SWA/FO]

Better then a single-wide in ATL.

 

[Heavy Set]

General Lee,
You have some bad information about the SWA schedule. The system wide average legs/day is slightly less than 3. Remove Dallas and the average is 2.7 legs/day.
I haven't flown 5 legs in years and have never flown 6 in a day. Our contractual average workdays/month is 13.
You can easily work 13 days/month and make 200K.

Not sure where you're getting your information on schedules, etc.

Fly safe.

Even I know you guys fly, on average, more legs than 3 legs a day. I talked to a friend of mine and his 4 day had 5 legs the first day, 5 on the second, 2 on the third which still had 7.5 hours, and 5 on the last day. He said he was exhausted. You can't fool anyone, you guys work the hardest. GL isn't lying.

 

[Turbojet]

How old are you? You say that at SWA you will only make top 64-69% in seniority. I have been here for 2 years and am already at 79% system senioity. SWA still has a ton of jets on order and who knows about possible future orders. Upgrade is still 5-6 years and at that point you can expect to make $180,000+ a year until you top out just over $200,000. And that is by just flying your line and averaging 17-18 days off. I made $102,000 year two without picking up extra flying since im a commuter. Figure another $10-$15 grand a year (for years 3-5) unitil upgrade.

If it were me, I would pick the best job that gave me the best quality of life rather than how big my jet was or what the overnight city was. Living in base is HUGE for the quality of life decision. Do you have kids? Why does your wife like Dallas so much. I am willing to bet that she has family there and it might be nice for her to have kids around family (grandparents ect...) especially when you are out of town. I was kind of surprised by your comment that Dallas is were SHE wants to live but not you??? If you love your wife let her be a part in the decision on where she is going to have to spend the next 20+ years while YOU are gone...unles you are already planning on finding a new wife.

I was a United furloughee and live in the northwest. I always wanted to be based in Seatle for ease of commuting. I recently resigned my United recall and will stay at SWA because it is the sure thing. With mergers, long upgrades, low pay, and highly leveraged finincials, I couldn't see going back to United. Even if United's pay once again goes above SWA's pay, the higher earnings I make at SWA now with quicker upgrade factored in will most likley exceed those that I could ever make at United when compounding interest if taken in account.

What ever your decision is, good luck. IMHO, chosing Delta will lock you into a commute from Texas for the rest of your career and lower earnings for at lest the next 10 years....chose wisely!

 

[firstthird]

I know I have looked at the numbers and when I would retire at SWA I would only be in the 64-66 percent. IE a long way from the top. ...
With DAL I would be in the top 15-30 on the seniority list. Even if we merged with NWA it would be the same since NWA has a very top heavy list. Upgrade would be about the same at either place. Somewhere around the 10 to 15 year mark

Not sure I understand how this would be a true statement. Presumably you mean you'd be in the 65% as a captain? But do you mean the top 15-30 on the DAL list number vs. percentage? Even if both are percentage, I'm not sure I get how that could be true. Especially considering Delta just lost most of their senior captains over 55 or so. Meaning, very few retirements for a while. The only way you'd top out at 65% for SWA is if you got hired around 50+ years of age, and if that is where you are, you will not make top 15-30 at Delta.

could someone explain to me what I'm missing or is ACL just screwing everyone around? Did the GUAT (is that what he was called) get someone's log in?

And I'm not sure where you got that upgrade at SWA would be 10-15 years. Right not it is 6.5 to 7 and these are the guys that sat through 2 years of post 9/11 anemic growth. You may want to check your assumptions prior to making uninformed opinions based on poor fact checking.

Then again, if Delta is your thing, just go there; you don't need us to pat you on the back and applaud your decision. but if you are genuinely on the fence, I'd check your information one more time.

 

[737 Pylt]

Better then a single-wide in ATL.

Is it better than your trailer in topeka??
I bet moving day is fun without a pick up truck!:laugh:

737

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Guys it is percentile. 65 percentile puts you in the top 35% of the pilots. IE 35 out of 100. Sorry to confuse.

In a response about my wife. She has some strong ties to the Dallas area and I do not. I agree 100 % with you and would not want a divorce. With that said I live in ATL and would have to move. Literally if I got the SWA job I think that she would move then next day. She wants back that bad. Even though she says that ATL is fine. Basically she was upset I did not take the World gig for DAL.
I would have to commute out of the Luv hub either way to see upgrade before I am 50. I am 32, but I am sure upgrade out of there will easily pass the 15 year mark. Either way I think that I will have to commute.
You all know that whatever an upgrade is not is not what it will be when you get there. We had that at my airline back in 01. We were hiring guys and upgrading them in six months. People jumped ship at places like Horizon to come here and they just upgraded after seven year.
I may be wrong but I do not see SWA being able to attain the level of growth that they have for the next five to ten years. They will have to plateau. It is inevitable.
You are correct in stating that DAL is on shaky ground. I think that the only place for the near term where that is not true is the cargo industry. SWA is a great place, I am just trying to weigh all of the pro's and con's I would more than likely have to quit my job at DAL to get the type. I cannot bypass there for a class that fits my schedule better. Like I stated in a previous post. I would not know until may and I will already be in class by then. That is a tough call to make. IMHO.

 

[Skyboy722]

Guys it is percentile. 65 percentile puts you in the top 35% of the pilots. IE 35 out of 100. Sorry to confuse.

I am 32,

As mentioned before, I think you got ahold of some bad info here. If you were hired at SW at 32 you would retire WAY, WAY higher than the top 35% percent. If that were true, it would mean that if you were hired today, and the company didn't grow one percent during your entire career, that 1,855 pilots at SW RIGHT NOW would have to be younger than you. It's not even close.

 

[Skyboy722]

I looked it up, just for giggles:

If you were hired today, and your birthday was Jan 1st:

You would retire #102 at the company, regardless of retirement age, if EVERYONE senior to you stays to mandatory retirement age.

If the company stopped all growth today, and never grew by another pilot, that would equate to retiring in the top 1.9%.

If the company reached 8,000 pilots (predicted): top 1.2%

You get the picture.

Good luck with your decision. It's a tough decision but a good problem to have.