Originally Posted by slowplay

I thought the answer to Trouble's point was common knowlege among DAL pilots. The early retirements were brought up during SLI in the merger in 2008. The vast majority of the nearly 2400 earlies from 2003-2005 would have been retired due to age 60 by December 12, 2007 when the age changed. The time frame we're talking about is when other airlines furloughed in 2008-2009.

Originally Posted by DoubleTrouble

How many RJ's does the SWAPA scope allow, and how many pilots did SWA furlough?

There are many reasons an airline expands or contracts. Scope is just one of those reasons. To state as you do above that "the" reason (by omission of any other reason) is misleading.