joepilot

The single most important point is not commuting, or at least getting the easiest possible commute.

If you are willing to move to a base this is less important, but many pilots seem to be "married" to a specific geographic area.

What did you fly mostly on active duty? Transport pilots seem to fit better at United, fighter pilots seem to fit better at Southwest.

A senior guy can have a very comfortable working quality of life at United, but being junior, especially on reserve, sucks. You can choose to stay right seat on a narrow body, and get seniority fairly rapidly, and get quality of life fairly soon. If you opt for more pay from bigger aircraft or early upgrade you will pay for it with lower quality of life in terms of schedule choice and possibly commuting.

Southwest has better quality of life for a junior guy.

Joe

Winston

I’m just coming up on four years at UAL and live within driving distance of the junior bases of both airlines. Since I had decided not to commute to work these two were my main goals, leaning 80% towards United. United called to tell me I was hired the same day SWA emailed to offer an interview.

I have zero regrets in coming here and really couldn’t see myself at any other airline. I’m headed to a widebody next month to fly around the world, and after a few years in the 737 the idea of no option other than spending the rest of my career in that thing flying throughout the US seems really depressing. Should I change my mind, I was within 200 numbers of narrowbody upgrade at my home base in the last vacancy. I have no doubt that I’d have been happyish and had fun at SWA, but I think I’d have felt like I’d missed out on a lot if I hadn’t made it here.

It’s a great thing to have options, and it’s a great thing to have a major retirement curve ahead of you just beginning to swell.

Zard

I fly for SWA and live in base.

Go to UAL if you aren't set on living in base one way or the other.

Bizkit

Thanks for all the responses so far; I really appreciate the insight. One thing I keep coming back to is the scheduling flexibility at SWA and the line bidding. I want maximize my time off, and it seems like SWA is the clear winner here. Is that actually the case?


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Harvey

After having offers from both, and living in domicile for both, I went with SWA. For me productivity is everything, and flying 4x 3 day trips a month at SWA nets a great pay check. As a guy finishing up 2 years I haven’t missed a holiday/birthday/special event yet. So the flexibility has been awesome for me.

Spending most of the month within 1 time zone of home has been great for me personally. I spent plenty of time in the pacific and Western Europe while in the military so I don’t have a WB itch to scratch. Might be different for you...

Finally, most of my buddies at UAL threw down long term mil leave at UAL right after probation. I’ve only had a couple of friends at SWA do the same. Varying reasons for all of them, but it’s been interesting to see.

There is plenty of money to be made at SWA as an FO, so dont let the length of upgrade make a decision for you. All that can change really quickly at any company.

Good luck with the decision

CLazarus

At UAL I worked 13 days in Feb but only logged 47 hours of flight time, I could have worked less if I’d wanted to. I got paid 97 hours or 17k, partly due to some premium trips. If I didn’t commute, I could get more premium trips easily enough. Four years in and I haven’t worked on XMas or Thanksgiving since my 1st year. Don’t know about SWA, but UAL tends to offer unpaid leaves in the Spring/Fall so that is another way to maximize time off. For scheduling flexibility, seniority is the key and you’ll get it faster at UAL.

deus ex machina

If you want to max your time off, go fly WB reserve and live in base.. fly one trip a month.. maybe.. at SWA you will work 15 days a month under their mantra work hard/play hard... sit WB reserve and get paid to play hard..

The thing is.. if you talk to a SWA pilot.. they are going to tell all they know.. which is what they only know... if you go to a back surgeon he is going to tell you he can fix your problem.. with surgery... that is all he knows to do... when there are other options out there...

If you talk to a United guy... he's flown the 737... and the Bus.. and the 75/76 and the 777/787... they have the big picture.. kill me now if I had to fly that 1960s RJ for 30 more years... but the guys that only know it... love it... wonder why..

SWA pilots love to non-rev in first class to Europe on Vacay...

Hacker15e

What do you mean by this specifically?

rickair7777

Generally it means a lot of block/credit when you're at work so as to maximize days off.

Commuters might like productivity, but some people don't want to be that productive... productivity means no long layovers at cool destinations, and often means not enough time to work out on the overnights.

But of course there's more than one way to skin the days off cat. Productivity is good if I have to go to work, but I'd prefer to get paid to stay home.

deus ex machina

It means gate agents telling you to get back in your seat when all you want is a few nasty hot dogs for you and your crew... seen crews carry cooler bags with tuna fish and Worcestershire sauce... hmmm so good...