PS: Looking at pilot salaries, Southwest is NOT a low-cost airline
Or is it? Perhaps on the surface it appears that they (we) are not. Southwest pilots happen to be among the most productive airline pilots in the US. Low paid? Oh no. Very efficient? Oh yes. More interesting is a comparison of flight deck labor cost per ASM. We are the lucky beneficiaries of the efficiencies of our business model. FedEx and UPS are the lucky beneficiaries of an industry that can simply raise prices to compensate for fuel costs without running off business.
Hopefully the revenue trends will continue at places like CAL and the like. I believe this career will recover after a little more pain. Who would have believed the industry would take so long to stabilize after deregulation?!
-A Southwest pilot and former ALPA member
PS I also think it was time for a change but I still believe Worthe was better than Babbit.