Forgive my lack of recollection as to which thread it was on but I believe someone had said that it's possible to have a QOL that's as good if not better than the LCC's if you learn to work the system at UAL. By "QOL" I'm strictly referring to schedule flexibility and ability to rearrange or get rid of trips. For example, say I'm a line holder on 737 IAH base and have a family event on a given weekend. I was awarded a 3-day starting Friday and would really like to get that specific Saturday off. I've read about things like criteria trades and "bad day/worse day" but I don't quite understand how it works. Obviously everything improves with seniority, I'm just trying to get an idea of what life on the line looks like in the earlier stages. Thanks all!