Sick Leave and Sick Bank Buyback | Contract 2029 SEP Education

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.

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 going out and returning from disability. We just concluded the benefits and leaves blank sheet survey. So, let's dig into what we learned and fill the membership in on what you all have worked on behind the scenes so we can go into the polling phases with eyes wide open. During this discussion, we are going to compare our CBA provided benefits with other airlines. You can find the contract comparison document on the negotiating committee page on swapa.org and we will link in the show notes so you can follow along.

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.

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 with us here at Southwest, but with the aviation community at large.

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 Feedback Form, Crew Hotel List/Alternates, Hotel Standards Manual, and the Amenities and Transportation List.

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 Schnitzler and Greg Auld from the Economic and Financial Analysis Committee. We've also included a companion piece that defines some of the financial terms that we'll be talking about today. So please take a look at that to help follow along if you didn't major in finance.

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.

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 impacts.

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.

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 Jeanette, about profit sharing, the market-based cash balance plan, and updates to our retirement accounts in 2026.