Originally Posted by Carl Spackler

First, yes I'm very seriously considering the early out. I'm 56 though and I think I need to be a bit closer to 60 before I pull the handle.

Second, the reason is because I've been very fortunate in life. My airline career started out badly with 5 furloughs in 5 years. But it looks at this point that it will end OK. Because of all my furloughs, I've always had outside business interests. Those interests have become very lucrative. That would never have been possible for me without some good airline years giving me the seed money that I needed. I want the younger people junior to me to have those same opportunities and NOT be living paycheck to paycheck. That will never happen if we keep eating our young by selling scope. It's why I tell young people that their first choice should be SWA. Rock solid scope is everything.

Third, no I don't think we should ignore our surroundings. By you bringing up APA and our TA in the same sentence, it just struck me that you were making a direct comparison. But I see by this post that you didn't mean to do that...just rather keep it in the overall picture.

PS: I hope you get to fly the 744. She's the best hand flying airplane I've ever flown.

Carl