The SWAPA Number

Today's SWAPA Number is 10. That's the number of subject matter experts and executives that were on the town hall that took place on July 28th. So for this episode, we are providing you an opportunity to hear that town hall in case you missed the live event, during which we posed questions ranging from SWAPA's relationship with the company to where we are with implementation to the status of our move through the strategic plan. It ...

Welcome back to The Contract 2029 Survey Education Poll series. I'm your Communications Committee Chair, Matt McCants. My guests today are Kurt Heidemann, your negotiating committee chair. And Resident Benefits Subject Matter Expert and NC Member, Damian Jennette. We are going over the recently surveyed topics of sick leave and a sick bank buyback program.

If you have any feedback for us at all, please drop us a line at comm@swapa.o...

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 committee pilots who work directly with members ...

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 send us a text.

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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 safety topics that are front and center, not just wi...

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 you access to the Crew Rest Fe...

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 Second Vice President, Hank Ketchum, as well as Erich Schnit...

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.

If you have any feedback ...

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 and potential Section 1 impact...

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@swapa.org or tap here to send us a text.

F...

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 line at comm@swapa.org or tap here to send us a...

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 walk through that process and, more impor...

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 heart set on being a pilot. Despite a multitude of chal...

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 of insight to provide on top of what we've c...

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 Standards Committee to talk about the state of AQ...

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, Communications Committee Chair Matt McCants ...

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 at Southwest Airlines.

If you have any feed...