It's a highly personal decision. For me, there are a few airlines I wouldn't have left even a regional airline for. SouthWest is number one on that list. United is number 2. Naturally those are the two airlines that often have rumors about buying JetBlue, which proves the universe is evil.

And we all know that will never happen in the next 5 years. UAL has no money (or poorly managed) and SWA rumors are furloughing the last 1200 new hired pilots (till MAX problem is fixed and than they will be dramatically short of pilots).The same line of horse manure sees JB buying Thomas Cook and their slots in Manchester, Gatwick, Stansted ... one of they way to get to fly to London.

Can anyone offer some info on upgrade times in each type? SWA I believe is 8 yrs. How does jB compare?

Is it only 8 years now there?i think 3 years on the 190. I think the 320 is 6 I know some 8 year guys got FLL so would make jfk a lot more junior.

8 years to commute to OAK maybe, but 10 is a little closer to accurate - and that’s only IF there isn’t a recession, retirement age isn’t increased to 67/70, there isn’t another merger, there isn’t another black swan event...

2013 hires at JetBlue have been able to hold captain for a couple of years.
2014 hires at SWA are on average around 35%-45% on the FO list (depending upon domicile)

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But looking at money a 5 year SWA FO isn't making much less than a 5 year JB 190 CP. And being 35%-45% on SWA FO list is a better QOL than 2% in JB 190 CP list (after 2 year reserve depending on base).
Money-wise... on a 20 year long run even with 13 years to command on SWA and CP after 5 year in JB, SWA stays a better option...

Considering SWA has almost 5000 FO ... the 2014 hires had an average seniority gain of 10% a year (not bad) but SWA has being hiring like crazy in the past 4 years. What will be the future SWA hiring trend?
In addition that underline SWA CP training potential of 10% FO per year (assuming you can only get seniority if the guys in front upgrade), if there aren't any major events. Could this be a correct assessment?

The are so many premium open-time opportunities for 190 Captains, I think the pay disparity between Swa FO and 190 CA at Jetblue is larger than you think. The way Jetblue’s operation is run, you can pretty much trip over yourself and get EPS pay on any given pairing. From what I’ve heard staffing is pretty fat at Southwest now. Obviously there will be certain cases where that isn’t the case (190 CA that flies min credit and commutes vs. FO that works his tail off) This also doesn’t include profit sharing, which SWA has much more of.

This.

IF JetBlue figures out staffing then maybe it will be closer. But I know several guys who are freaking killing it in FLL because there's no E190 base there. Plus remember that they have to pay the virtual DHD on an out of base RSA or VDA. It adds up quickly. Most E190 guys who live in FLL will break 300k this year I bet. Makes me wanna move to Palm Beach. Lol

I wasn’t in the left seat but my penance of commuting to 190 JFK from FLL for two years, was made significantly easier in part due to the above mentioned. Driving to work however eventually won the day and as it turns out, with some work, still nets one more than the average 190 CA line.