Originally Posted by
Smooth at FL450
SWA doesn't care what regional you come from. If this is your ultimate goal, work on your degree while flying at your regional. The regional that offers the fastest upgrade would be the one I'd suggest.
SWA definitely appreciates military service, but then you're looking at a significant time commitment that will slow your progress to SWA down.
So it just depends on your preferences.
I believe all of them are represented. the famous "Eagle Mafia" (now Envoy) and obviously Skywest are well represented. Some theory supposes that "alot of Skywest" because "Skywest is similar to SWA" but other supposition is that if the largest regional on the planet is, well, Skywest, then alot of Skywest dudes are at all the majors.
I would probably go with a guaranteed interview or flow regional versus not. That way you have a worst-case backup plan if you never get called as an off-the-street hire.