You can spend your career on the 737 at either company. One thing that United offers that Southwest doesn’t is WB flying. If that is something that interest you, and if you’re able to handle the time zone changes and deal with red eyes, it is the easiest gig in the industry. Good money and lots of time off.

For a 737 perspective, I’m about 40% and average 15 days off per month. I could do better than that if I wanted, but I put some pretty steep limitations into PBS for commuting, no red eyes, and avoid trips with more than 3 legs per day. My trips aren’t great (20-21 hr 4 days), but they’re commutable on both ends and easy. Seniority is the key. Senior pilots have lots of options and can bid accordingly, junior pilots take what is left. That usually means higher time lines and fewer days off. The good news is that if this hiring continues, people will move up quickly and can then decided if they want to trade high relative seniority in their current seat to bid other equipment or upgrade. On the other hand, if the music stops, being stuck with low seniority with our current contract wouldn’t be much fun.