SWA upgrade time?

[Fighterdude]

Does anyone know the approximate time to upgrade to Captain at SWA.?..if you are at a junior base.....I heard it can be as short as three years....any details would be great appreciated....
thanks in advance....

 

[InHot]

Upgrade

I've heard 5 years, but I'm on the outside looking in.

 

[chase]

Capt upgrade

On average about 5 years on property will generate a Capt upgrade class for those currently here. This comes with a caveat. If you're in one of the junior bases, i.e. MDW, OAK, BWI, MCO, upgrades would average around that timeframe or in some cases as little as 4.7 yrs on property. This would allow you to generally stay at your base of preference & fly capt lines.

For PHX, HOU, upgrade to remain at your base falls closer to 6 yrs probably. For DAL, expect the time frame to vary from 7.5 to 8.5 yrs.

hope that helps.

 

[ATA75Pilot]

Pretty Simple Math I Think...

Take the total seniority list.....double it. Then take out retirements anticipated and take a WAG at the percentage of the list that passes up the upgrade in favor of quality of life.

Everyone says the rule of thumb at SWA is 5 years. However SWA has 4000 pilots and grows the list approximately 10% per year.

Year 1 - 4000
Year 2 - 4400
Year 3 - 4840
Year 4 - 5324
Year 5 - 5856
Year 6 - 6441
Year 7 - 7085
Year 8 - 7793
Year 9 - 8527

Not knowing what the retirements situation is it would take you 7 - 8 years in the worst case scenario assuming SWA continues expanding.

Of course keep in mind the bigger a company becomes the less liklihood of a sustained growth spurt.

I've always believed that an airline posseses a "terminal growth" point beyond which any further growth is detrimental to the company (ie. UAL).

At some point SWA will be unable to maintain the "folksy" quality as the company grows significantly larger.

Of course it's all a matter of timing. When I hired on at ATA it was taking 2 years to make Captain. Almost 4 years later I'm looking at another 2-3 before my slot comes up.

Sucks being behind the bubble but such is the nature of the biz!

Good Luck!

 

[chase]

Obviously there is no guarantee about when upgrades will occur. When I sat through the company & union predictions about when upgrades would occur, over 2 years ago here is what I was told:

Company - 7 yrs to upgrade
Union - 9 yrs to upgrade

Upgrades were occurring at the time at the 5 yr point in 1999.

Yes retirements have a play in upgrades. SWA doesn't hit 100+ a year until '05. There is a point where upgrades can't grow at excessive rates. If anyone knows definitively when that point occurs pls let us know. With SWA's growth potential I would believe it might be easier to guess where OBL is?

I wouldn't guess what other companies' upgrade potentials are but I feel without more unexpected turns SWA's upgrade time will remain fairly similar to current trends for the next few years. One can predict the airline business very well regardless of being inside or outside the game!