Easy going. After a Pep Rally at 8:00 a.m., we split up with the interviewers each taking a test subject. One-on-one for about 25 minutes. Back out to the waiting room for the next interviewer. Started my first interview at 9:15 with Tom Lewis. You need to be firm and decisive with him. If he asks a question, DON'T use phrases like "I think..." or "maybe..." Next up was a simple 20 minutes of "TMAAT..." plus a glance at your logbook. Last up was Stephanie. This one started at 2:30 and endded at 3:00. A Long day, but worth it. She wanted to know why I would leave Independence to come to AirTran after 7 years. Best decision, worst decision, decision that affected OPS in a positive manner. Walked out of there on cloud 9. 8 guys interviewed on a Thursday. Two called Monday, one each Tuesday and Wednesday. My call came late Friday afternoon. Another hire was two weeks after the interview. Plan ahead. Get copies of your last four check-rides, update your resume and logbooks. Greta tells you what to bring. I'd suggest a snack, too. Believe me, it was a long time between interviews and breakfast. All HR questions, no technical. Class sizes for the foreseeable future range between 20-30 bodies per class with class dates planned up to MAR 2006, more to come.

The gouge previously listed pretty much sums up the information about the interview process itself. This posting is primarily for military guys: If you are interested in SWA, the minimum number of hours is good enough, dont worry about comparing yourself to civilian guys who have 4-5K hours. For Air Force; take the day you became an aircraft commander and use that day forward as PIC time (unless you flew and didnt have the A code).

Overall a very pleasant experience with a real quality organization. SWA is not about peanuts and point to point flying, its is so much more than that. I sure hope that I get the job!

Last several posts were on the money. Interviewed with Stephanie (HR), Tom (Retired Captain/Ex Eastern now Chief of Training) and Doug (Check Airman, also Ex Eastern). All three went out of their way to make everyone (8) in the group feel comfortable. Stephanie asked the normal HR type questions...Doug situational questions (tell me about a time...) and Tom asked several technical questions (holding speeds, runway centerline light meaning, etc) and several Why AirTran questions.

I was intially called by Greta on a Saturday (what a surprise) and was invited to the interview the following Tuesday. I was scheduled to fly up to ATL on Monday. Fortunately, my application arrived at 10 a.m. courtesy of FedEx, whew. I filled out the application the night before the interview but there were two interviewee's that did not receive their app's and they allowed them to fill out there in between interviews. Make sure you bring all your doc's (Pilot Certificate, Medical, FCC license, passport, last (4) PC results or military checkride forms + last (4) OPR's, and logbooks...YES logbooks. They were not previously mentioned but I'm glad I brought mine.

Bottom Line: I left the interview feeling very good about AirTran. Everyone I spoke with was very positive about the company and didn't seem to be drinking any Kool-Aid. Hopefully I'll get the call (thumbs-up) soon rather than the letter in the mail (thumbs-down). Good luck all.

The other interview accounts were extremely helpful and very accurate.

I arrived just before 0800 and met the other 11 applicants. Most of the applicants looked like FBI Agents with blue suits and red ties. About half were military and the other half were civilian commuter; eleven guys and one girl. Only one other guy was also furloughed. Myself and one other guy were the only ones with both military and civilian experience. I think I was the only applicant who actually flew the 737 on the line.

Southwest has very nice facilities and all the people there are friendly and open. After the initial paperwork, we were split into 2 groups: LOI or interview.

I had my LOI first. My advice on the LOI is to not delay the decision to divert. It is obvious, with the scenarios, that a divert will happen. The 7 minutes goes by very quickly. Use CRM, ask for input, use all your resources (ATC, Dispatch, Check Airmen) and make the decision early. I think I wasted too much time on the process and got crunched for time at the end.

After lunch in their very nice cafeteria, my group had our 3 interviews. You are interviewed by a HR person, a First Officer and a Senior Captain. I thought the HR and FO interviews went well. They are relaxed and make you feel very comfortable. They asked the questions others have posted and I was ready to answer the "Tell me about a time" questions. They all asked "Why do you want to work for SWA?". The Captain checked my log books. I had flight time summary sheets and computation sheets prepared and highlighted. My captain interview was a more scrutinizing and a little confrontational. Maybe, it was because I was furloughed and he was testing my true desire to work for Southwest. ...I don't know.

Most applicants had their contacts and references called in a week. Some of us did not (atleast 4 others). If they don't call your references then you will most likely not be chosen by the Review Board.

Read the book NUTS! It gives a lot of insight into the Southwest mentality.

I don't know what went wrong in my case, and they don't tell you. They could have hired everyone who interviewed so I just didn't sell myself correctly. Southwest is a great place to work and I can only hope that I have an opportunity to re-interview in a year. :(