Yes they have. There were many years where "legacy" airlines paid better, had better benefits etc... SWA had low pay and awful work rules compared to a major airline. Deregulation has now run it's course and is fully mature. The industry has now realized all those things that the framers of deregulation built. SWA hasn't set the bar... the bar has come down to SWA. And now SWA is on top... sort of. They have a great business model for the current conditions, but there are obvious chinks in the armor. (Don't believe it if you don't want to, but why else would they go into LGA if there weren't more places to expand? It doesn't fit their model...) Time will tell where this is gonna play out, but I personally wouldn't trade places with the most senior SWA captain, because that type of flying is not for me anymore... but that's just me. Fire away.