Wow, this thread has the potential to be a gold mine of goods and others about each airline if people could just keep there emotions out of it and give some good hard facts...good and bad... about their respective airline.
Codfather (and I) need some real information about what we can expect if we go to your company. SWA guys (gender neutral term), where am I wrong when I say the slow down in growth (and thus hiring) coupled with the fact that 1500 guys have been hired in the last three years means I am looking at a 10 year upgrade...Where am I wrong when I think Gary Kelly's statements that "costs are rising faster than revenue", "If we knew things were going to be this tough, we might not have agreed to those labor deals" , and "We have to keep labor costs down" don't mean that any significant pay raise is unlikely. Facts please not name calling. Delta folks, Has Delta really trimmed the inefficiencies? How much pay do you think you can get back in 2010?

Bottom Line (I said this in my last post but apparently some skipped that part) Both companies are great. SWA has a tremendous record and I am confident they will do very well in the future, but things are cooling off right now and that might make my timing bad. Delta is just picking itself up off the mat, but the future looks pretty bright, and timing there for a new hire does not get much better. Two months ago this was a no brainer, but things have changed (I did not say the sky is falling, things have just changed). The two are not as far apart as they once were. When one takes domiciles into account as well as international flying and heavy equipment, for some it becomes a tough call.

Thanks to anyone who wants to explain why I am wrong or can point out other things old Codfather and I should think about.

And Vlad...Unfortunately, I am quite sober!! Navy/Marine random tests and all, I have not been able to figure out the pattern!!

I can tell you I am having fun here at SWA in my 7 months on the job so far, and if this does not work out I will probably use my degree to do something else outside of aviation. The more options you have the better. I like flying and I like landing the 737. You will get plenty of that here. I wanted to live in San Diego, and soon there will be 3 bases I can commute to within 2 hours. LA is a 3 hour drive (at best) with parking and all. OAK, PHX and LAS are all 2 hour commutes at most once I hit SAN. First you decide where do you want to live? Then decide if you want to travel to international destinations, multiple type aircraft and so forth. I got/get all the international travel I want from the big green gun club, so that was never an issue for me, and I am not a huge long haul fan being 6'4" and all.
My dos pesos.
Raidr

Thanks again to the forum for some great insight. I think leaving the Navy was a hard choice but like many of you have stated, picking the right company seems to be even harder. I do think though that both SWA and DAL are incredible oppurtunities and will use this and other info to make a more informed choice. Again, thanks and my best to all of you!

Godspeed!:)

It was warranted Deez's "gas station" comment.

Vibrato? Is this from the same guy who used "hubris" in his post?

Dats' right!:D

Not trying to quote you to personalize the argument, but just using this statement as an example: Everyone pays for their training up to a point. No one got to ANY airline for free, whether you paid for a type or not.

It's like two prostitutes arguing about what they'll take money to do. We all got lines we won't cross, but we all do it for money. None of us are nuns.

www.webster.com

book mark it.

I think you meant Bravado, not Vibrato. But I will admit I had to look up hubris to make sure I knew what you meant.

It's a vocal reference. (powerful inflections in one's singing voice) although bravado would have worked nicely as well. what about machismo?