The SWAPA Number

Today's SWAPA Number is 1380. That's the Southwest flight number that had an uncontained engine failure with an emergency landing into Philadelphia five years ago today on April 17th, 2018.Today, on the anniversary of that date, we talk with Houston Captain, Darren Ellisor, who was the FO on Flight 1380, about what happened that day, the investigation afterwards, and what lessons can be learned from the incident.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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

Today's SWAPA number is 5, that's how many unions, including SWAPA that have chosen to call a Strike Authorization Vote during their negotiation cycle while we have been in the middle of ours. The other four are Delta, Alaska, American and FedEx.  Southwest isn't alone nor unique in their struggle to achieve a contract that attracts and retains the best pilots in the industry.On today's show, we spoke with SPC Chair, John Murphy, and committee member Mike Terwilliger about the strike authorization vote that opens on May 1st, what the SPC has been doing behind the scenes and why the vote is so important to our negotiations.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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

As we approach 100 episodes of the SWAPA Number podcast, we're going to look back on some highlights including some never before heard clips that will give you, our listeners, some insight into the process it takes to bring you information directly from the source- our SWAPA subject matter experts and leaders - since August 2019. 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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

Today’s SWAPA Number is 45. That’s the number of years since the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association was formally recognized by the National Labor Relations Board on March 27, 1978. You’ve heard the expression that history repeats itself, so for the SWAPA anniversary, we wanted look back at some of the events that have happened at our Union and see what they tell us about what we’re experiencing today in 2023.So on today’s show, we’re talking with Phoenix Captain Frank Schmuck who has been with Southwest Airlines since 1994. About four years ago, he started the “Southwest Pilots Then and Now,” Facebook Group with a tagline of "A bridge to the future by way of the past." More active than ever, this group has become a sort of a historical, cultural and informational page related to many aspects of our lives as 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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

Todays SWAPA Number is 89, thats the number of days Contract Admin Chair Seth Kornblum was on strike, when he was with his former carrier Comair. With the Strike Authorization Vote coming up and the Strike Prep Booklet having been mailed to homes, we felt that the time was right to sit down and talk with him about what that time in life was like, what were some of the things he would do differently and what he feels is important about the upcoming vote.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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

Today's SWAPA Number is 2.07, that's the percentage of 2022 profit sharing that will be funded next month. February is a busy time for our EFA Committee every year with full year earnings across the industry coming in and Southwest Profit Sharing getting announced. But this year it's especially busy with the fallout from the Christmas meltdown, a recent TA at Delta and big pay raises across the industry. So on today's show, we're gonna talk with Eric Schnitzler, Greg Auld, and Damian Jennette from the SWAPA EFA Committee. It's been a while since we've had all three on together, but with all the news we thought you'd wanna hear from each of them.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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

Today's SWAPA Number is 27. That's the number of Senators on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. This week, that committee held a hearing to investigate the airline industry and invited SWAPA President Casey Murray to testify. If you had any doubt about the value of SWAPA’s Government Affairs Committee, this hearing should be all the proof you need. GAC’s relationships and their credibility in DC opened the door and our Union's data-driven analysis got Casey a seat at the table which allowed Casey to reach a nationwide audience. This week was proof that having a strong presence on Capitol Hill is critical to getting SWAPA Pilots' message heard by policymakers and the public.On this bonus edition of the SWAPA Number, we've collected all the Senators' questions and Casey's answers during that hearing.You can watch the full hearing at https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2023/2/executive-sessionIf 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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

Today's SWAPA number is 33. That's the percentage of pilots who have joined Southwest Airlines since our last contract cycle between 2012 and 2016, which led to our current CBA and ended our last trip through mediation. So on today's show, we're talking to SWAPA's Communications Committee Chair, Mike Panebianco, about SWAPA's message moving forward.We'll also ask him to share with our newer members some of the history of SWAPA, what he sees as the most important thing our pilot group can do to help achieve Contract 2020, and what we can expect from the communications group as we roll through the next year.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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

Today's SWAPA Number is 99. That's the percentage of voting pilots who backed ALPA's strike authorization vote at Delta Airlines back in October. Pilots at Alaska voted in May with the same outcome. Those incredible numbers are the target SWAPA pilots need to aim for in our recently announced strike authorization vote. On today's show we're going to speak with Casey Murray and NC Chair Jody Reven, about how we got here, what an SAV means, and what our pilots can expect in the coming months.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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737

Today's SWAPA Number is 825 million. That's the negative impact the meltdown will have to our fourth quarter earnings according to an 8-K, the Company filed on January 6th. I don't have to tell you that SWAPA has been super busy communicating with our members over the last couple of weeks. Our reps and our execs have written extensively about the leadership failures, while our committees have been trying to make sure that you get the information you need to help navigate this crisis. And speaking of committees, I want to give a special shout out to Scott Plyler and his SRC team that gave us a great day by day breakdown last week of how and why the scheduling side of the operation failed so badly. So if you hadn't had a chance to watch that video, please, you really, really need to. Like I said, we've been all over the airwaves, including business cable and major news networks trying to get SWAPA's message across to the public. The problem with TV interviews is that they get edited down to just a little bit of a sound bite and a lot of the important parts tend to get left out. So on today's show, my usual SWAPA Number, host Amy Robinson and SWAPA Comm chair Mike Panebianco, sit down with all three execs for a conversation that covers many of the same points you've already heard from SWAPA, but there's a lot more detail and nuance that had been left on the cutting room floor.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/swapapilotsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/swapa737