Originally Posted by
Jiggawatt
Ted, thanks for the reply... we aren't set on one place to live; leaning towards DAL right now based on domiciles, but both DAL and SWA have some appealing domiciles that would fit my long term plan, so I'm trying to fill in all the blanks. Every time I talk about this choice with people, I say "SWA seems to have more flexibility with the schedule", then they ask "what do you mean", and I realize I have no idea why I think that, particularly about DAL's system for adjusting schedules. Whereas SWA people are always talking (or so it seems) about their wide variance in pay and hours worked. Hence my search for clarity on DAL.
Everything at SWA is more uniform, mostly because it's one fleet. In more ways than not, this just makes the two very difficult to compare directly.
An analogy might be "I'm thinking about moving to Tulsa, but hear it's hot. Is hotter than all the other places I might move to in the country?" Well.. it's hotter than average, but it depends as varies widely depending on what Delta category/seniority/season you are comparing SWA to.
Almost all the reasons Delta is hard to compare to SWA are reasons I'd prefer Delta over SWA (remember, this IS a Delta board). If I were contemplating flying only the 737 the rest of my career, I'd want to shoot myself. Particularly because it would be as an FO for a LONG time, from what I hear. My SWA friends, though, don't contemplate that, they LIVE it... and are fine with it. Almost every airline buddy I have is thrilled to be where he landed and you will be too. But as long as (if) you have the OPTION...
SWA strengths:
Never have to retrain
Fewer days at work
Minimal time zone changes
Easier schedule manipulation
Better vacation
Better health care
No hat
More jumpseats to commute
Delta Strengths:
Variety, variety, variety!
Easier workdays (ON AVERAGE)
Higher pay potential (it depends, could be its own thread)
Earlier upgrade opportunity
Long haul international option (never forced)
Better seniority progression/ retirement outlook