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What makes SWA great?

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It's really simple: SWA hires a good share of civilian pilots, FedEx mainly military. If you're civilian, SWA is probably the only option. A good one at that.
 
Daysoff:
The profit sharing is a retirement fund and is taxed precisely like a 401K. Company contributions to the account are not counted as income, it grows tax-free and it is taxed upon withdrawal. You are not vested in the profit sharing fund until you reach 5 years of service, i.e., if you quit at 4.99 yrs of service, you cannot take your p.s. balance with you. The only thing I'm not sure of is what age you need to be before you can draw on the account without penalty.
 
answers to 401/ps ???s

Starbuck,

Thanks for the kind words. Others on here from SWA do the same thing. As they say in the business, "it's a team sport". I too just had some friends/acquaintances not make the last DB & was disappointed. I know everyone interviewed doesn't make itt but hopefully something I say on here may help someone else out. If so, that's as good as it gets. Hopefully more in the future will too. As to your questions.

The explanations were correct. First 7.3% I contribute, the company matches. The rest up to 15% is all mine, no company. I'd do the math but it makes my head hurt. The other guys were right on (for a PE major, it looked close).
Backflip & days off were correct in terms of the 401K explanation.

Daysoff,

My apologies for not making clearer. Here was my comment:
>Money is not taxable as long as it stays in the ProfitSharing account.

I added immediately after that the money could be rolled into a retirement account. I should've added when it is withdrawn from the PS account or after it is rolled over into another retirement account & then taken out, the money is taxed at whatever rate you're at. My apologies for the confusion. US does get some of it!


As to when PS money can be pulled out without penalty, the union web site says no penalty after 59 1/2. Stock options are something that can be exercised at anytime & taxed as regular income. Again, not a major issue for younger folks (time with SWA, not birth order definitely!) like me or you if you get hired. Future contracts may have options & the key to them is the length you wish to hold them for & the "strike/option price" when they are awarded to you. Just for example to make your head swell:

As a 3rd yr FO I received a grant of 1013 options to buy SW stock at approximately $19. & then sell it at a later date. For example selling it today would net me a total of a little over $2000 after taxes.

A third yr FO received on the signing date of the contract in '94 3,216 shares. The stock price was around $17 then. With all the splits (caused over time & good business practices + splits in the stock), those shares now have a price basis of $3.95. Selling those same shares at todays stock price of $22 would result in an after tax amount of approximately $41,000. That is only one year's worth of stock options, assuming he hasn't exercised any of them over the past 7.5 years. I'm not trying to bad mouth the guys who got it, quite the contrary, I believe the older guys have done very well & took ALL of the risk since there was ZERO pay increases for the first 5 years of the contract. They deserve it! There just wasn't enough foresight into what effect having different strike prices, amount of shares, etc. would have on creating so many different pay scales for each year group hired. In essesence that is what has happened. Again, don't get too bogged down with all of this, focus on the bigger picture.

This will get fixed, SWA will continue to grow & we will still continue to have the best pool of pilots to choose from & SWA is thankful for anyone who even gives it a passing interest, regardless of your reasons. Sorry to ramble.
cheers, God bless,
 
I don't work for SWA even though I have tried to gain employement there. I do have many friends there, and my best answer to your question would be that the reason people want to work at SWA is that SWA does a good job of making their employees feel like they are a valuable part of something special. It's that simple. Most of my career was in corporate. I worked for a very dynamic billionare. His employees worked 30% longer, and 30% harder, for 30% less. But we knew that we were a part of something special. In the industry that he was a part of, people climbed over each other to get to work for this individual just to be associated with his dynamism.
In other words LEADERSHIP.
Herb provided that kind of atmosphere, he set up a company that was something special, and people want to be a part of it.

hope this helps
8N
 
Cockpit LUV

One thing that many people miss in the whole "why SWA?" thing is the Captain-FO relationship. Think about it: you have about 25 years to go in this industry, spending thousands of hours alone in a cockpit with your co-worker. SW tends to hire people who are good at "getting along", they know a thing or 2 about judging personalities. I have heard tons of stories from guys at nearly every major about this a**hole Captain and these b*tchy flight attendants. Let's face it, the big airlines have in the past, hired SOLELY based on experience and could care less how well liked these people would be. I'm not saying that everyone at SW is the coolest guy/girl I ever met and I'm not saying that there are not great people to fly with at every major, but based on personal experience and listening to some of the horror stories, your NO-FLY list will be a lot longer anywhere else. Remember, you have to be locked in there with them for that 6 hour coast to coast ,or God-forbid, transatlantic flight.
For me personally, the money is a non-issue. Six figures to fly jets around the USA is unbeatable by any profession. Being happy on 99% of my trips for the next 25 years and knowing that I will have a job tomorrow is what counts most.
 
To all that have replied--a big thanks! The info has been helpful, and makes me feel better about spending $8K for a 737 type. Hopefully it will pay off. I would love to work for SWA.
 

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