As the US pilot shortage continues, Southwest Airlines is increasingly finding that pilots are using the Dallas-based airline merely as a launchpad to more quickly jump from regional flying to Delta Air Lines or United Airlines in a practice it calls “résumé washing.” It’s the latest twist in the ongoing pilot shortage in the United States.
Claim: Pilots Join Southwest Airlines With A Premeditated Plan To quickly Jump Ship In A Process Called “Résumé Washing”
Andrew Watterson, Southwest’s Chief Operating Officer, coined the term “résumé washing” and sums it up in this way:
- US network carriers like Delta and United tend to hire regional pilots from their own affiliates rather than from other carriers
- Lately, however, regional pilots have noticed a stall in hiring or become impatient, especially when pilots from freight carriers like UPS and FedEx are offered lucrative sign-on bonuses to pivot to commercial airlines
- Regional pilots are getting around this by joining Southwest with the specific intent of only staying long enough to get hired by Delta or United
Watterson points out that the trouble with that is that Southwest spends thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours training them only to see that investment dumped to pivot to a larger carrier with more growth potential. He told The Dallas Morning News that these regional pilots “know that if I get Southwest or another airline on my résumé, I can get to where I want to go.”
“So they use us as a premeditated way station. They come to Southwest, get hired, trained, spend six months and then they flip their résumé and apply somewhere else.”
Carriers like Delta and United actually have an incentive not to hire their own regional pilots because those carriers, like SkyWest or Mesa, are experiencing a greater pilot shortage than the larger carriers they fly on behalf of. If you hire too many of those pilots, even more regional routes will not be able to operate.
I have not mentioned American Airlines because its regional carriers are wholly-owned subsidiaries and the pipeline for moving from regional to mainline is more defined than it is for Delta or United.
This practice of “résumé washing” makes a lot of sense when you consider the huge difference in pay, over the years, between flying for Southwest (which only operates Boeing 737 jets) and a network carrier with widebody jets:
A 40-year career as a pilot at United or American is worth about $22 million in pay, benefits and retirement packages…compared with $16.3 million at Southwest.
Quite a difference that justifies the leap, even though it means starting on the bottom of the totem pole again…
I cannot imagine, though, that this is a wholly new phenomena, particularly for young pilots.
CONCLUSION
Southwest Airlines is claiming that more pilots are joining the Dallas-based carrier with a “premeditated” plan to jump ship as soon as possible, in a practice it calls “résumé washing.” Noting the competitive realities of pilot hiring in the US right now, this practice is likely to continue even after Southwest pilots ink their new pay deal, which could be coming as soon as this week.
image: Southwest Airlines
So , the well-paid “bosses in suits” are complaining about pilots looking for a better deal ?
Try to sell me another one .
Does this mean the new Southwest pilots’ contract with huge salary increases does nothing to close the gap with legacy carriers?
American has wholly owned regionals (Envoy, PSA, & Piedmont), but also contracts with Skywest, Republic, and Air Wisconsin for their regional operations. But Delta also has Endeavor as their wholly owned regional & also contracts with Skywest and Republic. So Delta could be in a similar situation to American, although at a smaller scale since less of their regional operation is operated by wholly owned subsidiaries.
SWA should sign them to a 3 year contract with penalties for leaving early.
Or a ice retention bonus after 3 years
Or they should offer gold parachutes like the executives if the company parts ways with them.
I thought Southwest was Xanadu and nobody would ever want to work anywhere but Southwest. I mean, it’s the best Airline with the best Employees and Cult-ture out there. (I hope I got the capitalizations right per Colleen’s Bible/the company style guide). Wah wah. Add training agreements with severe pay-backs for breaking early.
Turns out even pilots hate the primitive boarding method Southwest uses.
Exactly! The number one reason I refuse to fly with them. Although I do hold their credit card banking points . I only use them as a last resort.
This doesn’t happen to WN exclusively. People leave regionals for ULCCs everyday and apply to their legacy of choice after training because they can “beat the flow” and gain seniority earlier at their final destination airline. Put a 3-5 year contract in, that would likely stop or slow it down significantly.
Maybe Luv should figure out how to become a competitive choice for future aviators? Seems like the COO should be smart enough to figure out a way to remedy “resume washing” or perhaps they need a new COO w/ a vision! I think they call this supply & demand if I remember Econ 101 correctly?!
When it comes to 737 pay rates Southwest are competitive. However when all you fly is the 737 it is natural for people to look elsewhere especially if money is the motivator. As it was pointed out in the article pilots at Delta, United not sure why American was left out can all earn more money than pilots at Southwest if they are flying anything larger than a 737. Delta, American, United all pay the pilots more to fly depending on the airline the A321, 757, 767, 777, 787, A330, A350.
Right now it does appear as though money is the motivator because for years Southwest didn’t have this problem. But when you have first officers at Delta, United, American who after 2 or 3 years can go from the smallest aircraft in those airlines fleet to first officer on a 757/767, or first officer on an A321 that represents a huge jump in pay for these folks many of who are graduating with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. I was talking to a Delta pilot not long ago and he said Delta now has a policy that requires pilots to stay on the aircraft for at least 24 months because a training cost to even move a pilot from one aircraft to the next are so high. But earlier this year you had pilots at Delta jumping from the 717 to the 757/767 in some cases some of them didn’t even have 2 years as Delta pilots under their belt. However last year and early this year Delta was still dealing with a severe pilot shortage but as that shortage shrinks it appears if what that Delta pilot told me was true pilots at Delta now have to stay on the equipment for 2 years.
The same thing happens at JetBlue.