United offers a fleet variety and variety of flying. Southwest does not - one airplane type and the only variety is AM/PM schedule, and maybe if you fly to Hawaii. This is a huge plus for United. To illustrate this to you in percentages, you can hold captain at United in a narrowbody equipment pretty much right off probation because people have choices in equipment, type of flying, whether to be on reserve in that capacity or hold out for a line, etc. At Southwest, we do not have those choices. This is reflected in upgrade times. To illustrate my point, to upgrade at Southwest, you need to be around 62% system seniority. Mind you, that's to be a reserve captain. I understand that United, the juniormost 756 captain was around 64% system seniority, while narrowbody captain slots are going to people just off probation as long as they have 500 hours with UAL. Not at Southwest.

To make the most of Southwest as a career, you need to live in base.