Originally Posted by John Carr

It's all perspective, what one is used, and where expectations lie.

But a different way to say the above in regards to SW would more along the lines of "just fly your awarded line to get paid well, pick up to get paid VERY well".

But that's just me. One thing this job has taught me is to live WELL within my means, and DON'T ever have that mindset of "next year I;ll be be making xx amount so I can start spending that, then next year I'll be making xxxx so I can start spending xxxx", etc.

To the OP, you DON'T have a choice till you have BOTH job offers in hand. What if you ended up being hell bent on AA, interviewed, didn't get it, but turned down a SW interview based on wanting AA? Not that you would, but just throwing it out there. Meanwhile, you're holding your breath waiting for DAL or UAL to call? I know, it'll just be a matter of time before you get a call with the numbers coming up. But even before 9/11 when the hiring was VERY good, I saw a couple friends in this scenario;

#1) Can't get a call. Competitive, multiple recs, just not happening yet
#2) Interviewed, but sadly had a bad day and got a TBNT, reapply in a year
#3) Interviewed, got selected, and is in a pool, waiting on a class date.
#4) Interviewed, got selected, AND offered a class date.

Now imagine, at that time, if #4 was SW, FedEx, or UPS?

If you were to ask this question back pre 9/11, it would have been bottom of (insert legacy) as an automatic answer. So imagine how much it must suck NOW for the guys that went to SW pre 9/11 and stayed? That's sarcasm........

Things change, you'll NEVER know till you retire what was and wasn't a good move in your career.