Southwest Is The Terrel Owens Of Airlines

[KCFlyer]

Also being a real aircraft technician with a real airline I am experienced in at least 5 airliners at any given time. I would be boared working on only one aircraft!! The 737 only, for life!!! I dont think so!! I want a real challenge!!!
I bet you wanna be's know part numbers by heart and you dream of working on a wide body at night!

[post="285482"][/post]​

You know, as a lowly passenger, I take pretty good comfort in knowing that the mechanic working on my 737 worked on a 737 the day before that and another 737 the day before that, instead of moving from a 767 to a 737 to a MD11 from day to day. Sometimes, knowing those part numbers by heart is a pretty good thing.

 

[jetmechjer]

You know, as a lowly passenger, I take pretty good comfort in knowing that the mechanic working on my 737 worked on a 737 the day before that and another 737 the day before that, instead of moving from a 767 to a 737 to a MD11 from day to day. Sometimes, knowing those part numbers by heart is a pretty good thing.

[post="285484"][/post]​

not really......ya see doing the same thing every day on the same thing is like factory work. You get drained mentally..........your mind wonders off and next thing ya know.................... just like working at a desk all day long! So I cant remember part numbers for all my aircraft but I love the challenge of working on more than just one small aircraft!! And a 737, although it is a great airplane, will not get you to Hawaii, Europe, Asia and so on!!!

 

[luvn737s]

Well, Southwest currently uses 14 gates of the 32 envisioned in the Master Plan and leases as office space the North Concourse which has sufficient space for 7 additional gates. CO and AA's leaseholds on the East Concourse account for 5 gates, and the former Legend terminal has six gates. Totaling it all up, Southwest controls 21 gates of 32 and seven of the 16 unused gates (AA is not using their gates and asked to be released from their lease in 2003). This leaves 9 gates available to new entrants, which is 56% of the remaining gate space.

[post="285387"][/post]​

What percentage of the current available gates at DAL does WN use? In other words, if a new entrant wanted to begin operations tomorrow, how many gates could they have immediate occupancy on? For those who think U should give up PHL gates, perhaps what's good for the goose...

 

[KCFlyer]

not really......ya see doing the same thing every day on the same thing is like factory work. You get drained mentally..........your mind wonders off and next thing ya know.................... just like working at a desk all day long! So I cant remember part numbers for all my aircraft but I love the challenge of working on more than just one small aircraft!! And a 737, although it is a great airplane, will not get you to Hawaii, Europe, Asia and so on!!!

[post="285486"][/post]​

You might want to tell Aloha about that, since they fly one from OAK to HNL.

 

[corl737]

... Southwest has the lowest raitio of aircraft technicians to aircraft owned by that airline than almost anyone in the US.

It's called efficiency. For an airline to employ scores of mechanics that are not directly needed to keep the daily operation running is a bad business practice. In 2002, 72% of SWA's maintenance dollars went to maintenance contract work. (For reference, AA's contract work was 43%.) Southwest sends the majority of their planes back to Seattle for D checks. With over 430 B737s SWA gets bulk pricing without having to absorb the enormous cost of unnecessary employees or building/operating/maintaining numerous maintenance shops and hangars.

Contract work is extremely reliable, cost effective, and safe provided the airline implements a proper oversight and QA program. The choice of shops cannot be done solely on price alone. The issues of "bad outsourcing" exist when such oversight is lacking, and primarily occur at financially-strapped airlines. Add this to the self-serving interest of the unions to exploit the public relations benefit of crying "contractors perform unsafe airplane maintenance practices!" and no wonder that's what gets into the headlines.

(It is interesting that AA is now actively seeking opportunities to be an "outsource contractor" itself. While I applaud their interest in keeping their mechanics gainfully employed I wonder if AA will be the recipient of outsourcing complaints from the unions at other carriers?)

Also being a real aircraft technician with a real airline I am experienced in at least 5 airliners at any given time.

... and this somehow makes you more quaified than SWA's mechanics in the eyes of whom? As long as you meet the minimum qualification standards to hold your certificate the FAA (or anyone else) doesn't give a rats patooey what you do or how many airplane types you do it to. A screw is a screw and a nut is a nut. After reading your postings in this discussion it seems like you might be short one of each. Time to toss in the towel, buddy, and get a job that doesn't incite so much bitterness in your brain that you have a difficult time being civil to those who participate in the forum. (At the very least, please take the time to read your writings before hitting the send button. You might be surprised how you sound.)

I'll gladly fly any aircraft an "unreal" SWA mechanic has signed off ... and I do every day. When I push back from the gate I trust my life and those of my crew and passengers to the skill and ability of the SWA mechanics. I hope you're able to instill similar confidence in the AA Capts.

 

[PRINCESS KIDAGAKASH]

corl737, One of these days soon your "dinosaur" pilot job will be outsourced to automation. What will you think about airline efficency then? Why should they pay somebody to fly an airplane, when a robotic airliner can do it safer and cheaper?

Think it will never happen? THINK AGAIN! :mf_boff:

 

[swflyer]

What percentage of the current available gates at DAL does WN use? In other words, if a new entrant wanted to begin operations tomorrow, how many gates could they have immediate occupancy on? For those who think U should give up PHL gates, perhaps what's good for the goose...

Six, fully operational gates, available now. They've been mentioned over and over.

They're at the Legend terminal, but this is a correct answer to your question, as posted.

As far as PHL is concerned, Doug Parker has already said that USAirways will be giving up unnecessary gates leases as a cost saving measure. Conversely, SWA gets productive use out of all the gates it has at Dallas-Love.

Apples to Apples Luvn. <_<

 

[BIFF]

Here's the bottom line. I beleive everyone can agree on this. The Dallas/ Ft.Worth area IS big enough to support 2 major airports.
How long does it take mid-day to drive from the area of love field to DFW? Do you think everyone would want to drive that far to fly ?
In the end it is the voting public who will influence the politcs of this issue.
LUV is here to stay so get used to it.

 

[corl737]

corl737, One of these days soon your "dinosaur" pilot job will be outsourced to automation. What will you think about airline efficency then? Why should they pay somebody to fly an airplane, when a robotic airliner can do it safer and cheaper?

Think it will never happen? THINK AGAIN! :mf_boff:

[post="285501"][/post]​

I have no doubt that your theory is correct. Some time in the future we'll probably all be using Star Trek transporters and the airline industry as we know it will only exist in the context of ancient history.

They've already gone from 3 pilots to 2 in virtually every airplane flying. It won't take much more to take it down to one then eventually zero. Fortunately (IMHO) for another decade or so the lawyers will probably insist that someone is physically present to point a finger at if something goes wrong.

Likewise, you're probably safe for a while, too as machines aren't real good at repairing machines yet. Yet.

 

[WNjetdoc]

I dont think so.........ya see Southwest has the lowest raitio of aircraft technicians to aircraft owned by that airline than almost anyone in  the US.  That is what scares me about them flying over downtown Dallas everyday.  You boisterous southwest people remind me of the cocky Eastern employees of years past.  But you probably dont remember that because you are wet behind the ears and you are blinded by all the promises of a regional airline, wanna be real airline.    As I said in my original post ..........when the fuel hedges end the old family LUV fest will end and you cocky wanna be a real airline employees will be knocked off your high horses.    This is not vendictive or wishful thinking, it is 30 plus years of experience in the real airline business talking.  Sorry Ya'll the LUV FEST will be comeing to a surpriseing and abrupt ending.  And then I will say welcome to the real airline world! You should have kept the agreement you made at love field and remained a regional airline! 
    Also being a real aircraft technician with a real airline I am experienced in at least 5 airliners at any given time.  I would be boared working on only one aircraft!!    The 737 only, for life!!!  I dont think so!!  I want a real challenge!!!
I bet you wanna be's know part numbers by heart and you dream of working on a wide body at night!

[post="285482"][/post]​

Dude, you have some anger issues, or perhaps its "airline envy".

So you're saying because you work on heavys that you're more of a AMT than a guy working on a Piper? I guess you're one of those guys who thinks having a bigger rollaway toolbox means you're a better AMT than a guy with a small box? Again, its getting back to the envy thing. You seem to be a insecure guy, grow up dude.

I've worked for a airline that had heavy's, trust me, those AMT's there were not better AMT's nor were they worse than at SWA. I found it was up to the individual mech as to how good they were. I met plenty of good mechs at U, AMR, and some other airlines but to say they are real AMTs because they work on heavy's is STUPID. You're a good AMT because you are well trained and experienced, not because you work on heavy jets, I hope passengers reading this board can see the mentality some AMT's have at some heavy airlines.

I work on our jets EVERYDAY and I come across new problems all the time. One can never say they know the a/c completely as that is when they get too big for their britches. I have challenges all the time on our a/c, all I have found is I get to know the 737 pretty well, while you get to NOT know, as you say, "5 airliners at any given time", pretty well, lol. I remember hearing all the time at a former "heavy" airline, "I don't know anything about the 767", or, "ask Tom, he knows that a/c pretty well". In other words, you're a jack of all trades, master of none. However I do know AMT's at other airlines that are very, very good at more than one type of a/c, but they do not run around trying to convince everyone around them of how good they are.

BTW, that regional airline crack shows you are not only ingorant of AMTs but also of commercial airlines in general. SWA boards more people in America than any airline in the USA. We are close to boarding more passengers than any airline in the world, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

 

[bwipilot]

"Also being a real aircraft technician with a real airline I am experienced in at least 5 airliners at any given time. I would be boared working on only one aircraft!! The 737 only, for life!!! I dont think so!! I want a real challenge!!!

[post="285482"][/post]​

[/quote]

Jetmechjer,

There's something even pigs won't do That aside--I'll take my chances with a mechanic who specializes on one type aircraft rather than a jack of all trade. I'll also bet a SWA mechanic accomplishes three times the maintenance you do per hour. I guess that explains why your employer needs so many AMTs.

 

[luvn737s]

Six, fully operational gates, available now. They've been mentioned over and over.

They're at the Legend terminal, but this is a correct answer to your question, as posted.

As far as PHL is concerned, Doug Parker has already said that USAirways will be giving up unnecessary gates leases as a cost saving measure. Conversely, SWA gets productive use out of all the gates it has at Dallas-Love.

Apples to Apples Luvn. <_<

[post="285515"][/post]​

Don't be so quick to assume that those leases are in PHL. HP has proven that it can run a profitable hub in PHX and is unlikely to cede any gates to it's rival in PHL, CLT, LAS or PHX. SW may pick up a gate or two in places like FLL and CLE though but only if it can acquire sufficient gate space for expansion to make up for the loss.

 

[AirLUVer]

Six, fully operational gates, available now. They've been mentioned over and over.

They're at the Legend terminal, but this is a correct answer to your question, as posted.

As far as PHL is concerned, Doug Parker has already said that USAirways will be giving up unnecessary gates leases as a cost saving measure. Conversely, SWA gets productive use out of all the gates it has at Dallas-Love.

Apples to Apples Luvn. <_<

[post="285515"][/post]​

Actually WN has 7 gates that are not in "productive" use. They are used as storage and training areas, not for passenger boarding and deplaning.

 

[wnbubbleboy]

Actually WN has 7 gates that are not in "productive" use. They are used as storage and training areas, not for passenger boarding and deplaning.

[post="285713"][/post]​

I was in Training ( University of People) in April. It was to be moved to HDQ as of May.

 

[WNjetdoc]

Hey BB, speaking of Dallas, did I not see you downtown by the Dallas Grand Hotel, microphone in hand, spewing out stuff about not trusting the government and the like?

I like what you had to say, you are our leader....yes....yes.....

I was in Training ( University of People) in April. It was to be moved to HDQ as of May.

[post="285743"][/post]​