Originally Posted by
Denny Crane
I'll tell you what, I'm VERY junior on my equipment and my QOL is pretty awesome too! I've never called in sick over a holiday and yet, in just under 30 years, I've only had a trip over Christmas twice and one of them was a layover at home.
Know your contract! 
Denny
It's funny how much some pilots like to run down the contract and claim such poor quality of life. I flew with a guy not long ago who complained about everything. He then talked about his schedules and how much his retro would be. He was probably averaging about 9 days a month working and netting 100 hours a month! I see this time after time. In fact it often seems the complainers have amazing schedules! We also seem to glorify other airlines like SWA as shining beacons of QAL when it's not nearly as great as claimed. See below.
I was hired at SWA 9 and a half years ago at age 46. I live just under a 3 hour drive to my base. The first year here I blocked over 900 hours. Now, I'm doing between 550-600. I try to fly no more than 12 days a month. For me that's 85-90 TFP. I occasionally get a premium trip, but that's somewhat limited because many are short notice that I'm unable to do.
What I'm getting at is that I'm somewhat burned out. I used to fly long haul international on 10-12 day trips. But I rarely flew half the days I was away and never more than 400 hours a year. At SWA if you will fly every day on your schedule, sometimes over 8 hours, then have a 12 hour rest and go again. It can be quite exhausting (at least to this 56 year old).
If you plan on 113 TFP, be prepared to work for it, especially in the early low seniority years. Good luck in your decision, but if it was me, I'd go to FedEx, maximize retirement savings and retire by 60.