Southwest Application Window?

ZapBrannigan

ZapBrannigan

If it ain’t a Boeing, I’m not going. No choice.
Rumor out of Women in Aviation has it that SWA will open the application window next week or the week after. Game on. :clap:

Accepting letters of recommendation from well-wishers. :-)
 
Interesting, my Dad's a very senior SWA Capt and he said nothing is happening until at least the end of the year. But because of his seniority he doesn't really pay attention to things like that.
 
That's why they call them rumors I guess. Time will tell. Best to be ready regardless.
 
Rumor has it that requirement will be deleted after the AirTran integration. Until then, who knows? I got the type while flying the airplane at USAir.
 
X-Forces said:
OK, do the still require you buy the $10,000 lotto ticket.

How's that?
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Just accept the fact that there are people out there with way more experience than you who have had the opportunity to become proficient in the 737 and obtain a type rating while working for another airline.
 
ahmed said:
Just accept the fact that there are people out there with way more experience than you who have had the opportunity to become proficient in the 737 and obtain a type rating while working for another airline.
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True, my dad got a type flying for People's Express in 1981. At the same time, SWA has always been a pretty shrewd company when it came to business, so requiring a type rating must fulfill a pretty big check mark in some accounting column.
 
According to another message board they announced that they would open the window between March 5 and 15 and hire only 100 people in 2011. In the past Southwest would interview anyone who applied and was qualified. I can't imagine they'll be able to do that this time, would they? The response to this window will likely be overwhelming for such a small number of newhires.
 
X-Forces said:
They still making you buy the $10,000 lotto ticket?
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I wouldn't call it a lotto ticket because you don't have to HAVE it to interview, you just HAVE to have it before you begin training. I know people who got hired, then got the type, then started work there. So it's not like they had any real chance of losing, they already had the winning ticket in their hand.

I am glad that this might be going away though, I always thought it would be a great place to work but didn't really like that you had to provide your own type if you didn't already have one. For one thing, I don't really have $6k to spend on that just laying around.
 
Inverted said:
737 type is not 10k. Get over the bitterness...
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ahmed said:
Just accept the fact that there are people out there with way more experience than you who have had the opportunity to become proficient in the 737 and obtain a type rating while working for another airline.
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Exactly the reason I don't post here so much anymore. Everyone trying to make some kind of point where there is none to be made.

The question was simply was the 737 type still required. It has been refereed to as the $10,000 lotto ticket for years in the industry. A question asked in a joking manner.

At least Zap got it.
 
I always wondered if people are getting short changed on those 737 type ratings for $7,000. Even something as relatively simple as an initial type rating in a Cessna Citation costs in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000 at a reputable training center like Flight Safety or SimuFlite.

:dunno:
 
SteveC said:
I always wondered if people are getting short changed on those 737 type ratings for $7,000. Even something as relatively simple as an initial type rating in a Cessna Citation costs in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000 at a reputable training center like Flight Safety or SimuFlite.

:dunno:
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I often wondered the same thing. Prices varies wildly on 737 types depending on where you look. I know several people that got typed on the 737 recently down at Flight Safety in MIA, and it was $10,000. They were doing it for a China contract, however, and it would be reimbursed.

Nothing I am concerned with, I'm happy where I am!
 
SteveC said:
I always wondered if people are getting short changed on those 737 type ratings for $7,000. Even something as relatively simple as an initial type rating in a Cessna Citation costs in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000 at a reputable training center like Flight Safety or SimuFlite.
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What's to say that the $15K or $20K is the 'right' price tag, and the $7K is 'wrong'?

Look at who is paying the bill for most of the pilots at FSI, vs who is paying the bill at many of the places providing 737 types.

Bottom line, the places selling 737 type training know that many of their customers will be individuals getting the type to make themselves eligible for SWA application/training, and that those customers are going to be more concerned with cost than they are quality of training.

It's just a smart business decision.
 
SteveC said:
I always wondered...737 type ratings for $7,000. ....an initial type rating in a Cessna Citation costs in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000
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Hacker15e said:
Bottom line, the places selling 737 type training know that many of their customers will be individuals getting the type to make themselves eligible for SWA application/training, and that those customers are going to be more concerned with cost than they are quality of training.
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It's actually pretty simple, and nothing magical. Historically, all the 737 sims were owned by individual airlines. There are thousands of pilots annually utilizing a LARGE number of 737 sims, which outnumber business jet sims and their respective pilot populations. As the OLD airline sims began to get less utilization, they started farming out training to other airlines or sold the sims all together. The airlines or the new "schools" were looking to recoup some of their investment so they started offering cheap type ratings to all takers. They knew if they asked too much money, no one would come to their operation.

Many sims + few users = low prices
Few sims + few users = higher prices

That is why you see high prices for new/rare business jets.

PS: I think the SWA requirement is a sham and I'd never do it. I'm still amazed so many people have taken the bait. If enough people said "no"...the requirement would go away.
 
That is assuming that every pilot buys the type. There are those of us who were typed as line pilots on the airplane. I kinda wish they would make the requirement a 737 type rating plus 1000 hours in type. ;-)

Maybe i'd have a shot.
 
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