According to my understanding this is the way a furlough would go, from 1st to furlough to last:

1. AirTran FOs date of hire AFTER the acquisition announcement. (maybe 50 to 100 pilots??)

2. SWA FOs date of hire AFTER the acquisition announcement. (I am one of these) (approximately 220 pilots)

3. AirTran FO's on AirTran property BEFORE the acquisition announcement.

4. SWA FOs on SWA property BEFORE the announcement.

5. Blended list of SWA CAs and AirTran CAs from date of announcement to some date in 1993.

6. SWA CAs hired prior to the date in 1993 referred to above. As I call them, the "untouchables".

I will fully fess up, I did this list from memory, I did not get out the actual contract. If I got any of this wrong I apologize in advance.

My wife gave birth to twin girls just over a month ago, between the sleepless nights and juggling our two year old son as well, I don't have much time for anything else. A furlough is not something I worry about because it is not something I can control. The blending of our two companies is also not anything I can directly control, so as well I don't spend much time worrying about it.

I fully welcome any and all pilots into SWA who simply want to provide the highest level of customer service for ALL our customers (internal and external), fly safe, have a little fun in the process, and retire uneventfully sometime in the future from a company who is still in business.

Dang, a baby is crying!! Gotta go make a bottle.