The SWAPA Number

Welcome back to the Contract 2029, Survey, Educate and Poll Series. I'm Tony Mulhare with SWAPA Comm. And today, I'm sitting down with Tony Caparella, Brent Wiesner, and Damian Jeanette to talk the benefits portion of the contract. Damian is on our 401(k) committee now, but was on the negotiating committee last cycle, specializing in the benefits plan. Tony and Brent are our benefits com...

Today's SWAPA Number is 83,503. That's the number of queries fielded by Contract AI in its first nine months. So today we're joined by IT Chair Will Young, Committee Member Thomas Lowrey, and IT director at Leigh Sperberg to discuss where we are and where we're going with SWAPA IT. If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a line at comm@swapa.org or tap here to se...

Today's SWAPA Number is 13. That's the number of pilots on the SWAPA safety committee covering multiple departments. They all look at different parts of the safety world, but together, they refine exactly how we keep safety our number one priority. So, today, we're joined by Safety Committee Chairman Ken Schwantner and Safety Committee Member Gary Niemann to discuss all the flight s...

Join host Amy Robinson, Matt McCants, and guest Amanda Burford, SWAPA’s Hotels Liaison, for a discussion on crew accommodations as part of the Contract 2029 Education Series. This episode covers key insights into hotel policies, processes, and the role of the Crew Accommodations Board in supporting pilots on the road. For more information, visit the Crew Hotels and Resources Site . This site gives...

Today's SWAPA Number is 4.6 as in 4.6%. That was Southwest Airlines operating margin in the first quarter of 2026. That's the best first quarter margin that the company has produced since before the pandemic. So today, we'll take a look at the company's financial performance, how its revenue initiatives have played out and where we go from here. Joining us today are SWAPA Secon...

Welcome back to the Contract 2029 SEP Education Series. This episode builds on recent scheduling education tied to a potential new fleet, focusing on key points due to time limits. Members from SWAPA, APA, and Delta ALPA discuss long‑haul widebody scheduling concepts as a due‑diligence exercise—not a forecast—to help pilots understand how widebody operations differ if future fleet changes occur. I...

Welcome back to the Contract 2029 Education Series as we continue our focus on scope. The first four lessons reviewed Section 1 basics, current airline partnerships, differences between Southwest and other airline scope, and common FAQs. Those resources set the foundation for today’s discussion with negotiating chair Kurt Heidemann and EFA chairs Erich Schnitzler and Greg Auld on new fleet types a...

Communications Committee Pilots Matt McCants and Tony Mulhare go over the 26 Frequently Asked Questions from the first 3 weeks of education on Section 1. From important definitions to differences in our competitors' scope language, this is a great summary that leads into our discussion of new fleet possibilities next week. If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a line at comm@...

Today's SWAPA Number is 1.1. That's the percentage of pay that Southwest will distribute in profit sharing from 2025. So today we're sitting down with retirement guru and negotiating subject matter expert, Damian Jennette, about profit sharing, the market-based cash balance plan, and updates to our retirement accounts in 2026. If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a...

Welcome to your Contract 2029 SEP Education series. In this first episode, Negotiating Committee Chair Kurt Heidemann will go over all areas of Section one for our Pilots. If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a line at comm@swapa.org or tap here to send us a text. Follow us online: Twitter - https://twitter.com/swapapilots Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

Today's SWAPA Number is 7/1/27, as in July 1st, 2027. That is when SWAPA has the right to early open negotiations for the next collective bargaining agreement. That may seem like a long way off, but in order to be ready for that moment, the membership must form the outline of what we are trying to achieve, and we do that through a process called Survey, Educate, and Poll. Joining us today to...

Today's SWAPA Number is two because today we're sitting down and telling the stories of two pilots in our ranks that are some of the most powerful we've had the honor of sharing on this show. Midway First Officer Emanuel Prince grew up on Chicago's west side in a two-bedroom apartment with his eight siblings. While most of his friends were trying to be like Mike, Prince had his...

Today's SWAPA Number is 14%. That's the amount that is recommended to ensure that you maximize your employee contributions and your catch-up contributions before your NEC caps out. So today we're sitting down with two of our resident experts on retirement, staff members, Mike Haynes and Kevin Sheth. Mike and Kevin have a combined 44 years of experience in this world and have a lot o...

Today's SWAPA Number is 400. That's the number of new hires we expect on property during the first half of 2026. We're always happy to welcome new pilots to this airline, and these new hires will experience a training program that has gone through a lot of changes in the last couple of years. So today, we're sitting down with Greg Bowen and Willie Bishop from the Training and S...

The latest (and last) episode of the SWAPA Ride Report is up! To be clear, the regularly scheduled programming that is the SWAPA Number podcast will still continue. In fact, we will air our conversation with the SWAPA Training and Standards Committee on Monday, December 22. With all the procedures changes coming next month, this is one you don't want to miss.  In today's Ride Report, Com...

Today's SWAPA Number is 10. That's the percentage of the population that suffers from substance use disorder, and pilots are not an exception to that. So today we're talking to Tom Stanley, chair of the Human Intervention Motivation Study, or HIMS, to get an update on the work his committee does and to remind our pilots of this important resource that can save your career as a pilot...

In this week’s edition, SWAPA Communication Committee Member Tony Mulhare discusses the recently implemented Deadhead Self-Release functionality in CrewHub and how to set your training move up preference on either your EFB or via SWALife.   He also provides a timely reminder on where to find Holiday Pay Override information on the payroll report.  This week’s Contract Q&A discusses timelines f...

Today's SWAPA Number is 112. That's the average TFP per active pilot since contract ratification in January, 2024. Even with low density schedules and low levels of reroute, the new contract pay structure has boosted the 108 average TFP historically used. In fact, we had the second highest monthly TFP ever this past July, 135 TFP average, second only to the January, 2023, immediately pos...

The theme of this week’s episode is “coming soon” as Communications Committee Chair Matt McCants points to near targets for a number of new scheduling features and 401(k) Plan changes. This means deadhead self-release, reserve ELITT, and footprint protection, to name a few, along with new max deferral percentages and Roth touches on your 401(k). The Q&A this week has some great information on...

Today's SWAPA Number is 14. That's the number of outstanding grievances that are in process relating to contract interpretations. Defending our contract is one of the biggest pillars of what we do at SWAPA when Contract Admin is on the front line of that defense. Without a doubt, there are discussions or questions just about every hour of every day that we're having about this docum...

In this week’s edition, Committee Member Tony Mulhare discusses the runoff election for SWAPA Vice President and for the BNA & BWI Domicile Reps.  He also discusses recent errors found with training preferences and RCO due to company IT changes to the VDT and reserve preference selections.   The weekly contract Q&A focuses on several reserve related questions including how Release to Check...

Today's SWAPA Number is 73. That's the current number of reciprocal agreements SWAPA has with other carriers. So today we're sitting down with Brian Ross, chair of the Jumpseat Committee, and committee member Caitlin Bute for an update on the state of our partnerships with other carriers and the hot topics in the industry. If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a lin...

n this week’s episode, Communications Committee Chair Matt McCants has some elections reminders and quick ways to vote if you haven’t cast your ballot for the Fall General Election. He also goes over how to access the options for your Southwest Airlines Medical Open Enrollment, which runs until November 5. This covers your selection of medical, dental, and vision plans along with life insurance, u...

 Today's SWAPA Number is 13,561. That's the number of views the Aeromedical and Benefits committee page has received in the last 12 months. So that's roughly each Southwest pilot viewing it once per year, and as we just started open enrollment for 2025, what a better way to rehack that currency than a guided tour of that page and its contents. This is another audio visual presentati...

In this week’s edition, Communications Committee Member Tony Mulhare discusses the SWAPA STD & LTD open enrollment period that begins next Monday and also points to the recent SWAPA Vice President candidate discussion that can be found on swapa.org.  He also gives a summary of upcoming implementation items like Reserve ELITT and deadhead self-release.  He provides an overview of the footprint...