AA's getting a new long haul city every *nine* months.

Everyone has to make estimates and predictions to make decisions about the future. It's unavoidable. I tried to impose a penalty on UA and non on SW to demonstrate the impact of retirements which is the only factor we can predicate. Age 67/68 or a performance based standard would just delay the inevitable.

I don't knock SW, they were the airline to get hired at during the 2000's and with hindsight the late 1990's, and are a good airline. But the industry is different today (consolidation, changes from BK, lack of fuel hedging leverage by SW) so much so that the industry might be the most stable it's ever been for the largest companies.