Originally Posted by tm602

Please excuse my terseness, but let's cut the "I only work 5 1/2 months" and make $100K crap! You do NOT work 5 1/2 months. Nobody does. When you work January through May and are DONE for the year, you then and only then work 5 1/2 months. Just because you get a 7/7 schedule and vacations does NOT mean you do not work each month.
The pay is good, yes. The benefits are very good, yes. BUT YOU WORK THE WHOLE YEAR. Would I leave? Yes, for SWA: very short time commuting as junior bases are all places I can deal with or live in. But not for UAL or DAL: Both involve long periods in baaaaaad bases commuting. At NutJets I enjoy the seniority I have, even as a junior PIC. There are things I like and things I don't like but that's just how any job is. But I am fully aware of reality that we all work every month except for the few guys who know how to "work things" with changing schedules and vacation bidding. "Work things" means being smart, flexible and patient enough to sit down and do the math to figure out how to use the CBA---IOW legal and agreed by the company---methods to get the most drip from the turnip. Just like Scheds does every day. Its not "gaming the system", its being smart.