The SWAPA Number

Today on the show we are going to talk to NC Member Jody Reven about what WARN Notices mean to our Pilots and what they can expect from SWAPA in the coming weeks.  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 6,433. That's the number of pilots who subscribed to SWAPA's Line Tuner service. It's just one of the many tools and reports our SRC offers to the membership.  On today's episode, we talked to SRC chair Scott Plyler, committee member Dan O'Connor and staff analyst Meagan Nelan about the different products their committee puts out every month to...

Today’s SWAPA Number is 943,971 that’s the increase in passenger counts at TSA checkpoints since the lowest point in April of 2020. While passenger counts are still well below average, it definitely shows that the demand for travel is increasing.  On today’s episode, we talked to Economic Financial Analysis & Industry Research Committee Chair Erich Schnitzler and member Greg Auld about that in...

The month of November is open enrollment for SWA’s medical benefits and it also happens to be when the window is open for the Non-qualified plans.  In this episode we spoke with SWAPA’s Benefits Chair Brent Weisner about SWA’s medical plans and what changes our Pilots can expect.  And in the second half we talked with SWAPA’s Director of Retirement, Mike Haynes about the non-qual plan window and g...

Today's SWAPA Number is 23. That's the number of days the Company has decided all labor groups have to negotiate a 10% pay concession or face the threat of furloughs. On October 8th, VP of Labor Relations, Russell McCrady, issued a memo to all union members setting a November 1st deadline to complete negotiations. In the same letter and repeated again during a Company town hall event las...

Today’s SWAPA Number is 15. As in 15D: The section of our CBA that deals with investigations and discipline. Unfortunately, there has been a noticeable uptick in the number of 15D meetings over the last year or so and today we are going to talk to some SWAPA SME’s who have to deal with these types of things on a regular basis. We sat down with DAL rep Matt Wright, MDW rep Laurin Toriello, and SWAP...

Today’s SWAPA Number is $22.93million. That’s the total of the 2021 budget which will be voted on by the membership in October’s Fall General Election. Today we’re going to talk to SWAPA 2nd Vice President, Tom Nekouei. He’s going to talk us through how the final number was achieved, how SWAPA spends that money, and what the membership gets from that figure. If you have any feedback for us at all,...

Today’s SWAPA number is 31.2. That’s the number of months of the average long term disability absence lasts according to the Council for Disability Awareness, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the American public about the risk and consequences of experiencing an income-interrupting illness or injury. With SWAPA Benefits Open Enrollment quickly approaching, we wanted to chat with so...

Today’s SWAPA number is 13. That’s the total number of positions that will be open on the SWAPA BOD in the fall election. Back in the beginning of 2020, we sat down with each of our new board members to ask them what they had learned during their first few days on the job, what they hoped to accomplish in their time on the BOD, and what drove them to run for office. Today, with nominations for the...

Today’s SWAPA number is $268,668. That’s the current balance of the Pilot Relief Fund. On the show today, we’re going to talk to Outreach Chair, Jean Peck, who will tell us more about the Pilot Relief Fund, what’s on the horizon for SWAPAfamily, and about a few other things her committee handles.  If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a line at comm@swapa.org or tap here to send u...

Today's SWAPA Number is 2,211 That's the number of Pilots who participated in one of the Company's much-needed cost savings initiatives last month. That includes 1,581 Pilots who took a temporary leave under Extended Time Off, or ExTO, and 630 Pilots who retired or separated from Southwest under the Voluntary Separation Program or VSP. Today on the show, SRC Chair Scott Plyler along...

Today’s SWAPA Number is 3,284. That’s the number of listens to the Covid-19 podcast we did with SWAPA Vice President Mike Santoro on April 4. It was a popular episode that our Pilots found very helpful given the rapidly changing facts at the time. To that end, we decided to bring Mike back for a second discussion around COVID-19 to find out the lastest since it is still very much top-of-mind for o...

Today’s SWAPA Number is 25. The 1994 CBA had 25 side letters over the length of its duration. The 2006 CBA had 17. Our contract today has 2. What’s changed? Today on the show we’re going to talk to CA Chair Seth Kornblum and SWAPA General Counsel Helen Yu about side letters, MOUs, LOAs, and the other types of agreements SWAPA and the Company make in an effort to improve and protect our Pilots’ car...

Today’s SWAPA number is $191,745. That’s the annual amount Southwest Airlines will pay to a 12-year Captain for up to 5 years who takes VSP. It’s a substantial amount of money, but it requires walking away from your profession at the top of your career, however, for many members it’s a decision worth considering. Today on the show, we’re going to talk to NC Member Damian Jennette about some of the...

Today's SWAPA Number is 300%. That's the increase in calls Project Lift to seen since the start of the recent pandemic. We all know that everyone's under enormous amount of stress these days, so it's no surprise their call volume has spiked. Today on the show, we're going to talk to SWAPA Special Services chair Chess Fulton about the type of calls that Project Lift handles...

Today’s SWAPA number is 4346. That’s the number of fatigue calls that have been made since Southwest started keeping track in 2011. If your run the math, more than 1 in 3 of all SWA pilots have personal experience with making a fatigue call. On the show today, we’re going to talk to SWAPA Safety Committee member Scott H and SRC Committee Member Fred Deakins about those fatigue calls, the joint Fat...

Today’s SWAPA Number is 3. That’s the number of candidates we have running in the SWAPA 2nd VP Special Election. The candidate elected for this position will serve for the remainder of the 2020 term that will be vacated in June. The 2nd VP serves a vital role within SWAPA and we are lucky in that we have three candidates for the position this go-round. We sat down with Tom Bake, Tom Gasparolo, and...

Today’s SWAPA Number is 98,000. That’s the number of total passengers that flew in the U.S. on April 22. And for comparison, Southwest has about 62,000 employees. Today on the show, we’re going to talk with EFA Committee member Greg Auld who will tell us about this week’s earnings announcement, the impact of the coronavirus on the industry, and what the CARES Act means for us and our airline.  If...

Today’s SWAPA Number is 35%. That’s the current amount of flying in the May schedule compared to what was originally planned. We don’t need to belabor the point of what’s happening to our industry and our airline is unprecedented. I think that’s pretty clear to all of us. Today on the show, we’re going to talk with SRC Chair Scott Plyler and staff member Meagan Nelan who will help us with a postmo...

Today’s SWAPA Number is 19. Today on the show, we’re going to talk to SWAPA VP Michael Santoro about the impact COVID-19 is having on our Pilots and our Company. 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 415. That’s the number of calls the ProStandards Committee fields on a yearly basis. On the show today, we’re going to talk to SWAPA ProStandards Chair Rick Grindstaff about what types of calls Prostandards handles, how often they are talking to pilots, and what their success rate actually is.  If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a line at comm@swapa.org...

Today’s SWAPA number is 3/13. That’s the date our 2019 Profit Sharing will be funded. This year it will be equal to 12.2% of qualified earnings. On the show today, we’re going to talk to SWAPA’s Director of Retirement Mike Haynes along with NC member Damian Jennette about all things Profit Sharing, including some of SWAPA’s goals for Contract 2020. If you have any feedback for us at all, please dr...

Today’s SWAPA number is 2 million. That’s the number data points Contract 2020 preparations produced. Over a period of three years, we received more than 200 blank sheet questions, and over 600 follow up polling questions that resulted in 17 Negotiating Points and other educational materials on topics SWAPA Pilots indicated are important to them. With thousands of pilots participating in each one,...

Today’s SWAPA number is 6, as in Section 6, the section of the Railway Labor Act that governs airline labor contract negotiations. On the show today, we’re going to talk to SWAPA General Counsel Helen Yu who will give us a review on the RLA, negotiations, mediation, arbitration, and what happens if we can’t get a deal after all of that.  If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a lin...

Today’s SWAPA number is 346. That’s the number of pilots who are currently out on long term disability. Here to talk to us today about loss of license, our current disability plans, and what we hope to achieve in terms of benefits in Contract 2020 is SWAPA’s Aeromedical Committee Chair Brent Weisner and Negotiating Committee member Damian Jennette.  If you have any feedback for us at all, please d...