Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

The Big January Bid at SWA for AT

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web
Register   Log in
Roomwithaview said:
Oh the horror-to upgrade or not. Screwing would be putting a seat lock in place. Idiotic legacy thinking. The beauty of being a senior FO is that you can still easily make 200K a year and get the best schedules in the system. By all means, continue to kavetch about how ********************ty it is over here.
Click to expand...

I had to look up Kavetch. Good word. I'm stealing it. The senior FO making 200k should stay an FO was my point. Not take an upgrade just to see what it's like and then bid back down to FO. "The horror to upgrade or not". It's a pretty big deal right now considering how it affects your QOL, commute, days off etc and how quickly you can get off reserve. I'm staying put in the right seat for a bit, for the exact reasons you state. That was what I thought this thread was about anyway.
 
Loud noises!
 
This thread has taken a weird turn.

Ok, let's focus....what has been put out on the AirTran side about ATL as a base? There's a LOT of flying out of there still. I'm thinking there will be a LOT of ATL vacancies in the 144 person AirTran bid. MCO as well.
 
Daddy said:
This thread has taken a weird turn.

Ok, let's focus....what has been put out on the AirTran side about ATL as a base? There's a LOT of flying out of there still. I'm thinking there will be a LOT of ATL vacancies in the 144 person AirTran bid. MCO as well.
Click to expand...


I think SWA will make ATL a base . I also see in the future Dutch bidding ATL, but not going down there.

Further in the future I see Dutch getting the system CP position .


You might want to trust me on this . I have a gift for seeing into the future :)
 
I see SWA buying AirTran because Gary says we HAVE to have ATL and more importantly, the (newer) B717.

Expect EXPLOSIVE GROWTH out of ATL.

WON LUV-OWN IT!!
 
Daddy said:
This thread has taken a weird turn.

Ok, let's focus....what has been put out on the AirTran side about ATL as a base? There's a LOT of flying out of there still. I'm thinking there will be a LOT of ATL vacancies in the 144 person AirTran bid. MCO as well.
Click to expand...

Not much being said on this side at all. Most people aren't expecting much growth, though.
 
All FAT cappys with global seniority to hold SW Cappy will be trained and in their seats in18 months or less....congrats
 
PCL_128 said:
Not much being said on this side at all. Most people aren't expecting much growth, though.
Click to expand...

Thx. I didn't think so. It's going to be an interesting few months. I honestly think SWA is flying by the seat of their pants on this one. I'm not sure what to think about growth. There are many reasons to grow.....but no airplanes.
 
madjack said:
All FAT cappys with global seniority to hold SW Cappy will be trained and in their seats in18 months or less....congrats
Click to expand...

I think MJ is pretty close to reality.

ENJOY!
 
madjack said:
All FAT cappys with global seniority to hold SW Cappy will be trained and in their seats in18 months or less....congrats
Click to expand...

If they have global seniority to hold captain, it should be right away, n'est ce pas?
 
I concur

freightdogfred said:
If they have global seniority to hold captain, it should be right away, n'est ce pas?
Click to expand...

However there's the vacancy system, the stuffing of captains on the RSW side prior to 2015 and, the DRC
 
Is it true that some of the pilots / employees in those national SW commercials made over $50,000 due to the actors guild, (spelling might be wrong)? I was asking my buddy who is upset about the empl good standing clause and then he told me that certain people made good coin doing those in the past.

Might be easier than getting a premium trip.
 
Anywhere from 1500-2000 per week the commercials air is what my buddy told me. He was in a couple of them.
 
Where are you getting 300? Those around upgrade (SWA 77000) have about 400 FAT above them...what happened to the other 100?
 
The latest numbers are as follows and are approximate +/- 20.... and also make the assumption that all RSW Lance Captains bid and show as First Officers on the Seniority List.

For the Sept Base Seniority - the Junior RSW Captain is a 77XXX number hired in April 2005, and is based in MDW. The last FAT Pilot on the combined list able to currently hold SWA Captain is a June 2001 hire, and subtracting the 20 - 30 AirTran Pilots who have retired or left the airline since the integration, is currently around 440ish of all the combined FAT Pilots.

So right now, there are approximately 440 FAT Pilots that are able to hold SWA Captain on the global seniority list, with some still on the AirTran side of the partition, some on the SWA side of the partition.

There are approx 250-300 RSW FO's that bypass Capt... with some/many being Lance Captains.

The October Vacancy award comes out this week (tomorrow I think) so that list will get even deeper in my opinion.

With all that in mind, it matters not... because once Jan 1 rolls around, it depends on how many vacancies are available over the following 6 - 12 - 18 months as to how long it takes to all eligible FAT's to upgrade. It also depends how many RSW FO's continue to bypass or take the upgrade next year (my guess not many), and how many eligible FAT's bypass.

Long answer to simply state that as of Sept... the SWA Captain list is approximately 440 deep into the FAT seniority list.

I agree with Capt K (aka Madjack) that within the next 18 - 24 - 30 months many FAT Capts within this 400 - 500 margin (top FAT's) that want the Upgrade will get a shot at it.
 
Last edited:
Ok. So you agree with the 400(ish) number vice the 300 he was citing? Just trying to get an accurate snapshot.
 
Daddy said:
Ok. So you agree with the 400(ish) number vice the 300 he was citing? Just trying to get an accurate snapshot.
Click to expand...

As of the Sept Awards... the SWA Captain list is 440ish into the AirTran original Seniority list (counting the 20 - 30 seniors that have retired/medical/left).

There is a vacancy award for October (tomorrow I believe) for 48 more SWA Captains. There are 2 more POSSIBLE vacancy bids left this year (Nov, Dec). Considering the Oct award... and possibly 1 or 2 more vacancy awards before January, I believe that the SWA Captain list will be close to 500 deep into the FAT list by years end.

Come Jan 1st... all FAT's can bid. With 250ish RSW FO's bypassing and those approximately 500 senior FAT's eligible to bid... the majority of the initial 300-400ish future upgrades will be FAT's, simply because there aren't alot of bypassing RSW FO's in that range (percentage wise), and the ones that are bypassing will continue to bypass, unless they are Lance Captains, and IF the Lance Program dies (I believe it will), then they may or may not take the bidding upgrde.

After the initial FAT 300-400ish, then the list starts to really spread out with RSW and FAT combined... with only another 100 FAT Pilots still above the most junior SWA Captain cutoff line. Keep in mind this spread is a 5 or 6 or 7 to 1 ratio RSW:FAT.

My opinion, there will be at LEAST 300 SWA Captain vacancies next year, and at least 500 over the next 2 -3 years. My opinion, but based on looking at the numbers.
 
Last edited:

Share this page

Latest posts

Latest resources

Latest media

Carbon Cub FX-3 Shenandoah Valley
Carbon Cub at Kittyhawk
FX-3 in the backcountry
IFR Panel in a Carbon Cub FX-3
Cub-Provo-UT-c.jpg
Back
Top Bottom