It's endemic to the industry..... previous to now, SWA was a more manageable size, now they are big. Like the first 65yrs of Delta's existence, they proudly never furloughed anyone. In the first time they did in the late 90's, they offered pilots open jobs as baggage handlers, ticket agents, etc. Then after 9/11 it was just a straight furlough as the company parked a fleet of 100's of 727's almost overnight to match domestic demand. When the company gets too big and furlough mitigation becomes way too expensive rather than just rightsizing the corporation for the demand present, then furloughs are the inevitable result because at the end of the day, the CEO and BOD work for the investors, not the employees.

I hope that a furlough doesn't happen now to SWA but eventually, someday, for some event we can't even fathom, SWA will have to furlough just like every other company that has ever existed.