Flyby, pre-9/11 the legacies were ahead of SWA and the box haulers as career choices. My, how times have changed. The reason SWA looks so good right now is because all of the other passenger carriers look so bad. Will it stay that way...who knows?

My two cents. SWA is a great company with superior management and (from the ones I know) a great pilot group. The company has a game plan that it has sticks to and keeps its debt low. On the flip side, as it runs into more competition, it becomes more difficult to execute the game plan with the same spectacular results. Right now, SWAs ability to hedge fuel has done wonders for its bottom line, but as far as the operational side goes, I don't think it's anything special. The good news is I think its fuel hedges are significant through 2012.

I don't know what you fly at CAL, but it is a different airline depending on what fleet you're in. Despite the fact they work under the same contract, the life of a 777 pilot bears little similarity to the life of a 737 pilot at CAL, so the light at the end of the tunnel isn't necessarily a train. I think the future looks OK at CAL, but then again, we're always hearing about how things are going to change for the better. In the decade plus that I've been here, the pilot group is still very disjointed.

At SWA you'll be starting from the bottom and never fly anything but a 737, but you probably won't be subject to the job insecurities of the other carriers. I think the risk vs. reward is greater at CAL, it depends on what level of risk you're willing to accept. A couple of weeks ago, I flew with a guy who was in the bottom 100 and told him to go with SWA if they call and don't look back. Congratulations on having the choice, but since you took the COLA, it sounds like you already made your decision. Good luck at SWA.