Originally Posted by e6bpilot

My best guess - it was a decision based on the number of pilots SWA thinks it is going to need x number of years from now. They had some choices. They really didn't want to furlough and so they looked for the least expensive option that would allow them to right size their manning without furlough. They weighed this vs the hard to quantify factor of doing right by its people and how that may pay off later down the road and came up with a number that they were willing to live with.
I am actually impressed and somewhat surprised. They overmanned the airline a couple of years ago on purpose and they are owning the decision in a very smart way. They are trimming the expensive fat off the top and getting flight ops back to being an efficient open market where it tends to thrive. The option to offer voluntary ETO that you can be recalled from is also smart. Now you don't have furloughs poisoning the well when it is time to recall.
It's about down to brass tacks and it looks like SWA is doing right by its people. It's a business decision that will, more than likely, pay dividends once demand returns, and it will.