I won't tell you what to do, but QOL at UAL will not be comparable until you get to 50% or better at UAL(that's FO seniority in a certain base/category). You probably won't see better QOL than at SWA newhire till you are the top 20-30%.

That's how inefficient and poor our scheduling practices are here. Which also means we have such a high hurdle to leap over, we most likely won't see a contract for a long time.

I'd like to be wrong and say those things will be fixed with a new contract and a new contract will easily be signed within a few months.

If you have FOMO that you will never get to fly WB at SWA, or you really want to be a CA and live in a United hub, those would be the only reasons to bail SWA right now.

To be clear, guys can basically bid CA at almost all our hubs now at the one year point, however, you must realize, to hold a line in those places will likely take at least 5 years, so plan on reserve for the long haul. Like it's been said, there's a reason those CA spots are going unfilled. You will be at the beck and call of United crew scheduling and if you have kids age 1-18, you won't get much time on weekends to hang with them unless you have a vacation week, or call in sick.

This is the unsurmountable obstacle we are facing in our contract negotiations. At SWA, the QOL is already there for the most part, United hasn't had a QOL contract for over 20 years.

There's a reason you hesitate, your instinct is telling you to stay. If you plan on staying, you could always tell them due to some family issues, you'd like to push back your class for a few months (if we get a new UPA by then you can re-evaluate). Obviously, pulling the trigger now vs a few months could cost you 200-400 seniority numbers in the long run, so if you push things back, you will give something up.

I think things will get better here, but it's going to be a battle. My gut tells me we will get something soon, but there is no tangible evidence that's true.