Tap here to download Job Sharing
Fast Fact Friday
Job Sharing
Friday, August 29, 2025
Q1: “What is ‘Job Sharing’?”
Job Sharing is when two Flight Attendants bid for and are awarded the same Primary Bid line. One of the job sharing Flight Attendants will be scheduled to work the first half of the bid month (1-15) and the other Flight Attendant scheduled to work the second half of the bid month (16-end of bid month).
Contractually, SWA must offer a minimum of at least 1% of the total number of Primary Bid lines for each domicile for Job Sharing. Only when they offer this amount of Job Sharing opportunities may Crew Planning and/or Crew Scheduling also offer MRT/SMRT and/or DRT/SDRT. (Article 10.3.A.9)
Flight Attendants can only be awarded Job Sharing three (3) times in a calendar year, but Contingency Job Share bidding is an option to be awarded additional months. (Article 10.3.A.10)
Q2: “How does bidding and awards work for Job Sharing?”
Flight Attendant bidding for Job Sharing will bid during Primary Bidding and must include the names of the two Flight Attendants wanting to Job Share, their employee numbers, seniority numbers, domicile, and indicate their intention to bid for and be awarded Job Share. Only one Flight Attendant is required to submit a Primary Bid when Job Sharing, but both Flight Attendants will receive a Bid Receipt email once a valid Job Sharing bid is submitted in EBS. The Job Sharing bid will be awarded based on the most senior Flight Attendant’s seniority.
Steps in Submitting a Job Sharing Bid:
-
In the Electronic Bidding System (EBS), you’ll use the dropdown menu (where it says “Set Buddy Bids”) in the upper right hand corner to select “Set Job Share”. After you click “OK” a pop-up menu will appear. If both Flight Attendants are not on each other’s Buddy List, they will get an error message.
-
Flight Attendant Position 1 will be responsible for the first 15 days of the bid month and Flight Attendant Position 2 will be responsible for the second 15/16 days of the bid month (depending on whether it’s a 30 or 31 day month). Enter the employee number of each Flight Attendant in their desired Position and click the icon directly to the right of the box to populate their information into the bid.
-
Set the desired position order (both Job Share positions and awarded Flight Attendant position – A/B/C/D) and click “OK”.
-
Select the desired Primary Bid lines in the order you’d like them to be considered for the awards process. Once the Primary Bid has been submitted in EBS, both Flight Attendants will receive a bid confirmation email to their wnco accounts. The Flight Attendant who did not submit the bid will receive confirmation that an EBS Job Sharing bid has been submitted on their behalf by the other Flight Attendant (e#).
-
Once the bid has been recorded by submitting, either Job Sharing Flight Attendant can go back into EBS and view or change the Primary Bid. If changes are made, you may need to reset the positions (A/B/C/D) order to reflect the correct order of priority.
NOTE: In the event that a Job Sharing bid cannot be awarded, it’s very important that the submitted Primary Bid include enough choices to reach the most junior Flight Attendant’s seniority. This will ensure that if the Job Sharing award doesn’t happen, both Flight Attendants are awarded a line dependent on their seniority.
IMPORTANT: The instructions for submitting a Primary Bid in this FFF will be using the official bidding application for Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants – Electronic Bidding System (EBS).
Q3: “What are the requirements to be awarded a Job Share?”
Both Flight Attendants bidding to Job Share must be based in the same domicile. It also cannot be a Reserve or Vacation month for either Flight Attendant. Probationary Flight Attendants are not eligible for a Job Sharing award. If one of the two Flight Attendants does not meet the Job Sharing criteria, both Flight Attendants will be denied the Job Share and will be awarded during Primary Bidding based on their jointly submitted bid and their domicile’s bidding seniority.
Q4: “What happens if a part of a trip falls into the start of Job Share?”
Each Flight Attendant is responsible for all trips awarded during the Primary Bidding process and placed on their board. Pairings overlapping into the unscheduled half of the month will not be pulled, but will continue to be the responsibility of the awarded Flight Attendant.
Example: I am awarded the Job Share 1 position (first 15 days of the bid month) for October. I am awarded a Primary Bid line with a pairing scheduled on October 14-16. Even though my half of the bid month is October 1-15, I am responsible for the awarded pairing on 10/14-16.
REMEMBER: Our unlimited TT/GA options still apply to Flight Attendants who have been awarded Job Sharing. The only restriction will be that any trades or pick ups will have to occur during their awarded half of the bid month.
Q5: “If I am awarded Job Sharing, can I pick up additional flying from Open Time or TT/GA outside of my awarded half of the bid month?”
Generally no. If you’ve been awarded Job Sharing, when you’re off… you’re off and cannot pick up over those days. However, during emergency or extraordinary circumstances affecting the operation of SWA, a Job Share Flight Attendant may be allowed to pick up voluntary additional flying during the half of the month they are scheduled free from duty.
It’s also important to note that a Flight Attendant can be awarded mandatory training (including Recurrent Training) during the half of the Job Share bid month they are scheduled off. This means that both Job Share Flight Attendants MUST be available for company mandated training for the entirety of the bid month.