I think this is a matter of perspective. Concerning your first point about management and union cooperation, these solutions weren’t without contention. I’m not at UAL, but I do have friends there. And judging by the forums, the UAL pilot group is easily the most fractious on this side of the pandemic. That’s solely because of the trail that was blazed by management. They got their 99%, but that didn’t come without a steep price. They are the only airline to take that route.

As far as no pilots being furloughed, if I’m not mistaken, didn’t SWA and DAL also avoid furloughs? I may have that wrong, but I thought that they just sent out letters. I don’t remember exactly how UAL avoided furloughs, but I initially remember talks about the senior pilots taking a pay cut to support the junior pilots. These are the same senior pilots that endured 9/11 and great recession furloughs. I never had to endure a furlough, but I felt that was disrespectful to those senior guys. Again, maybe DAL and SWA did something similar, but I don’t recall.

As far as pilot hiring, we’ll see what SWA has in store. But pilots are a strange animal to me. Company performance was a major driver me in my job search. But most pilots don’t have that at the top. There’s currently a DAL vs. UAL thread somewhere. In my mind, DAL has made nearly three times the profit (not revenue) of UAL over the last decade. Plus, massive profit sharing. Steady growth. DAL hands down. You know who 80% of the pilots said they favored? UAL. Because WBs and seniority. Seniority at either carrier is not that different; something less than 10%. I don’t think company performance was even mentioned. All this to say, the lure of WB is a lure that SWA does not have so they are at a disadvantage which will be interesting to watch play out the next few years.