As much as I hate to see good people go to other airlines, I would also vote for living in base. In regard to wide body flying, keep in mind just how senior our WB flying is. The last vacancy had the 80% EWR 777 FO sitting around 7,900. That means your buddy will either be commuting to a NB line or WB reserve for close to 10 years! I know a few people who commute to global reserve and make it work, but it can be rough (especially in the summer).

Over 6'2", avoid the 737..... under, enjoy the drive.

The key here is wifey has a good job. If you’re the sole earner then this is a different scenario.

But with wife working a good job I’d stay SWA and drive to work.

I’d argue if he wanted to he could make more over his career at SWA anyway. Those dudes can hustle if they want. Or relax and drive to work and fly 11-12 days a month.

This really should be an easy choice.

Turned down a UAL interview to stay at SWA. No regrets. Live in DEN and won’t commute. QOL is simply better at SWA for me than UAL. 2.5 yrs in and I’m at 66% in base. I’d be around 85% at UAL. Upgrade will be about the same at both places and I’ll be able to be left seat in DEN sooner. I’ll take a few bucks less to deal with that. Hopefully UAL and DL knock the next CBA out of the part and we can ride the wave in 2020.

I just consider UAL, DAL and AMR as being on a higher tier than SWA. If I were hired by SWA i would try really hard to bail for one of the other three if I could within a few years. I’ve always considered SWA as a high paying commuter airline.

I’m with United and don’t agree with your statement one bit. SWA is a great career choice... all depends what type of flying you want to do for 25+ years. I have many buds very happy their...

Which of these airlines has always been profitable?
Which of these airlines has never furloughed a pilot?
Which of these airlines has never filed bankruptcy?
Which of these airlines is just now cracking into the international markets?

Maybe being “higher tier” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. BTW, as I’ve been figuring out asking around, a lot SWA guys are making more than the “higher tier” guys. Not bad for a “high paying commuter.” A guy showed me a captain in Chicago’s schedule. He made over $90k in a month.

BFD.






(not again)

I live in a SWA base but have a very easy 1 hour commute to my base with UAL. Never once did I apply to SWA. After all the years of Jumpseating on you guys I never had the desire to be there. I am more than happy to commute for the lifestyle UAL gives me. 1 leg transcons, Europe, South America and Hawaii feel like a vacation vs what my friends at SWA are doing when they go to work. When it is actual vacation time I have a massive global network to get me to where I want to be. Most often in a premium cabin (not domestically of course) So yes, I could drive to work, but my definition of QOL didn’t line up to what SWA offers.

This is the beauty of having choices these days. There is no one size fits all and for the fortunate ones they can pick and chose what will work best for themselves.

Very happy their what?

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