Cactus - You are correct about upgrades. Current upgrade is about 6.5 years, as we didn't grow at 10% for a couple of years past 9/11.

I can see where you are coming from with the comments on fuel hedging gradually going away through 2009 (as the newpapers and analysts have pointed out), but it's really not accurate to say we wouldn't be making money without them. I disagree that Southwest will have to make big changes to make money in this environment. There will always be adjustments, such as productivity agreements, but I don't see that as coming after the employees. If Southwest is able to continue to make at least small profits while others are losing money, I don't see how that is a threat to their financial model. When the industry turns around, I don't think that the rest of the industry is going to be content with their post-bankruptcy wage scales. If it doesn't turn around, I don't know how much more the competition can cut from their wage scales in order to be competitive with Southwest's costs.

The other thing is that Southwest isn't really running out of cities to serve. Southwest serves only 4 out of the busiest 10 airports in the Northeast.

I don't commute, but honestly, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your sharing your jumpseat with commuters. I did catch a jumpseat on America West LAS - MCO one night, and they were great to me. I'll be happy to have you on my jumpseat when my 6.5 years is up!