Great experience! I did the sim prep the night before at AirInc. Just like everyone else said, it is very pitch sensitive. I just hope the money I spent was worth it.

Met at 0800 at AirInc. Jill Nidiffer, Doug Powell, Mike Clendenen (Chief Pilot) were part of the interview team. They are very nice and as excited to have you as you are to be there. Jill starts by explaining the benifits and hiring plans. Then you are called in one by one for each interview. "What do you like best/least about your current position? Best/least about your supervisor? Tell me about a time you were applying for a position you didn't get accepted for? About a time you went above and beyond? About a time you helped out a customer/passenger? About a task you are currently working on outside of flying? About an unusual situation in the cockpit? About a CRM experience? Why AirTran? What do you look for in a company? That is about all. The questions are typical interview questions. No technical. Sim is exactly like the prep. Just relax!! (easier said than done). Overall great experience. Hope this all helps!

Interview has changed a bit since last posting. I interviewed in mid February 03. I highly recommend that if you are serious about getting the
job to get a few hours in the sim before the interview.

Day starts at 8am at the Air, Inc. HQ in ATL. AirTran recommends the
Diplomat Hotel, mainly because they offer a ride to and from the airport as
well as Air, Inc. The problem with this is that the shuttle is totally
unreliable. Of the 6 times I needed to use it, I was on it twice, and this
after waiting 45 minutes. The Diplomat shares this shuttle with 4 other
hotels and you are last on the list. The hotel is undergoing a much needed
renovation, there are no restaurants, and it is basically a sub-par hotel.
Bottom line, stay elsewhere.

The interview starts with a presentation of the company by Jill Nidifer.
Very pleasant and relaxing way to start the day. Gives you an overview of
where they came from, where they are, and where they are going. At the
conclusion of this, she introduces the pilots who will be conducting that
part of the interview, as well as the instructor(s) who will be evaluating
the sim portion. They each talk about 10 minutes, talk about the sim, and
hand out 4 different profiles. It is not a VFR pattern anymore. A raw data
ILS and some turns are the main parts, however each profile has a few
specifics. No surprises though, and no technical "stump the dummy" type
questions. I won't go into all the specifics of the company or the sim, they
will answer those questions for you at the interview. 8 of us interviewed
the day I was there. 4 furloughed USAir, 2 RJ captains, and 2 t-prop
captains. Everyone knew someone and had solid 121 PIC time.

There are 4 parts that can go in no particular order. Each lasts about 10
minutes.

HR- With Jill N. Questions include: Why AirTran? What do you look for in a
company. What do you expect your 1st year to be like? What do you expect
from us? What is your greatest accomplishment professionally? Very easy
person to talk to.

Pilot 1 & 2- People who do this portion are Capt. Brownlee and Capt. Powell,
both are very nice guys, nonconfrontational. CRM type questions. Have some
good stories about when you were uncomfortable, when you goofed up, what a
professional is to you, what CRM is to you. They prefer the answers in a
situation/action/result type format, although they don't tell you this it's
how they write down your responses, and if you don't give the story like
this it will prompt them to ask more questions.

Sim- see above. Do the prep and it's a non-event. It's expensive, but worth
it.

At the end of your 4 events you are free to go. They tell you a week to 10
days for the results, although I have heard of it being less to considerably
more.

to be short and too the point this guoge is very accurate all that was said including all questions mentioned gave a very good
account for the questions i was asked. Becuase of that i will not add more
repeat questions. Most of my group was military dont know where they all
come from and most yes were wearing blue suits and red ties. of course
being different i wore sport coat and khakis. all interviewers were
pleqasant and we all got along well although had and older capt who was very
stern and to the point no extraneous talk with him.. log check was minimal
and liked my computer log addition, made it easy to get accurate totals. well
waiting fot drug test and board to review can onjly pray that i have the the
privledge to work for such a wonderful place!! if u have 1000 pic u gotta
give them an app u will be very impressed!!!!!!

I stayed at the Radisson North. This is where SWA pilots stay for their training. It is a very nice hotel with a
IHOP right behind it.
I arrived at the People Dept at 0715 for my 0800 Interview. We went upstairs
for breakfast since we were early. The building is beautiful. Everything
about it makes you feel very comfortable. Very clean with all sorts of
picture memorabilia from the crew members covering the walls throughout the
corridors. On our way up to the Cafeteria, we even got to see Herb in the
elevator.
We had six guys in our interview group. We had 3 military, two
commuter pilots, and 1 airline pilot trying to move laterally. They brought
us into a briefing room and they explained the sequence of events for the
day. They told us to relax and be ourselves. They were very comforting.
They told us that our board would meet on November 11. This is where they
collect all of your paperwork and your logbooks. You may also hand in any
additional letters of Recommendation at this time. We were told to leave our
briefcases there since we would no longer need them. We were led back to the
reception area to wait for our name to be called. We had three one hour
interviews. One with a H.R. Representative, one with a line Captain, one
more with another line Captain. They ask you if you would like some water
and the fun begins. Very laid back and relaxing. Be yourself and try to
feel as if you were talking to your buddy.
Don't forget that each interview is a separate individual one. You may use
the same answers in each if they ask you the same question. Use your best
experiences. Treat each session as if it was the only interview session.
Questions
Have you ever seen CRM breakdown in the cockpit?
Tell us about a mistake you made in the airplane.
Tell us about your current job. What do you like and dislike about it?
Tell us about a policy you changed. On the ground or in the air.
Have you ever had to deal with a personality conflict?
What qualities do you have to offer SWA.
What are you best and worst characteristics.
What is the toughest decision you ever had to make.
Why do you want to work for SWA. (Each session asked this question)
How did you become interested in flying?
Tell me about a low fuel situation you have had.
Hardest decision in the last six months.
Tell me about your scariest flight.
What do you like the least about flying?
Has your integrity ever been questioned?
Tell me about a time you had to bend the rules to get the job done.
TAT when you became frustrated,impatient,angry with another crew member.
Tell me about your most memorable flight.
Have you ever made a split second decision, then changed your mind.
Have you ever had another crewmember disagree with the way you were operating?
TMAT you had to alter your plans/actions to meet a critical deadline.
That was all of it! It is now Nov. 3rd and still waiting. All of my
references have been called. Just waiting…

I was called for a last minute interview about a month after sending in my resume. I know no one at Airtran. They send you an app to complete prior to the interview.

The interview was pretty low key. It started with the HR person, Jill Nidiffer giving a brief overview of benefits, etc, then Dan Swann, Chief Pilot, giving an overview of company growth, time to upgrade (sometime after the 2 yr mark), as well as other pilot oriented info. Then the DC-9 chief pilot, (the name eludes me) gave a quick overview of the sim profile.

The sim ride was in the DC-9, of course, and merely consisted of a VFR Take off followed by a VFR pattern, turn to downwind with a descent on that leg, followed by turn to base, then final to a VFR landing. The ILS was even tuned up as a back up. The sim profile was there just to ensure you have the most rudimentary airmanship skills.

The sim was one-on-one with each of three people. The HR rep, the Chief Pilot and the Director of 717 training. All were extremely cordial and low key. The questions they asked were all softball taken from the resume, i.e. why Airtran, what do you want from a company, etc. The Chief Pilot asked a CRM related question and a " tell me about a problem you had in the cockpit" type of question. No technical questions. Airtran sounds like a good growth company with good equipment.

The only unsettling factor was everytime I asked a pilot or f/a how they liked working for the company I never got an answer that showed much enthusiasm or support for the company. The pilots seemed to be there just as a steppingstone to the next level in the industry. Pay starts off pretty low and the only domicile is Atlanta, though they have no policy that requires crew to actually live there (despite a rumour I had heard).