(As a SWA guy, I really try to limit my involvement around here to the occasional lurk. But it sounds like some SWA dude input may be needed)
I think a more accurate way to describe the situation over here is not so much that we are over-staffed, but that we now are over-staffed part of the year and under-staffed part of the year. This a direct result of our schedule planning folks' decision to build a more seasonally-adjusted schedule. It is the new normal that a lot of our pilots have yet to fully grasp. The premium time will once again be flowing like water by late spring, and it will nearly dry up again come Fall. A prudent pilot will budget accordingly (or plan on working 20+ days/mo during the lean months).
As FTB correctly observed, how can we be over-staffed when we are holding new-hire classes? Answer: we are still receiving some new jets each month, along with an increasing number of used aircraft to replace those nasty 717s
that we are paying you to graciously
take off our hands
, while at the same time the retirements of our classic aircraft slows just as the retirements of our classic pilots accelerates. Oh yeah, and here comes >1000 fATN pilots along with the rest of their 737s. It's gonna be another interesting year....