We max out at $11k post-tax per month. I believe we are behind Delta but in front of AA.

This is patently not true. It was a rumor that circulated on our union boards but the membership committee guys who track this stuff says it is false - they have had maybe a handful of no shows in over 1500 pilots in the last two years.

I know a Delta pilot who makes over $16,750 a month on LTD at Delta (and will for another 13yrs) plus another $2700 gets put into his 401K per month for another 13yrs. He'd give it all up for his health/medical back, but unfortunately that is not in the cards. Luckily, finances will not be one of his concerns in his earlier than planned retirement, but his situation has shown me first hand that no one knows what lies ahead and all the best plans can go astray with a surprise medical condition.

In my opinion, both places are good places to be. Present snapshot I would think UAL has better opportunities. As a seven year scale WN guy, my position has a different set of considerations, but if I were applying today UAL, DAL, and FedEx would likely be my primary focus.

Being a 26 yr UPS employee, I’d agree with you on UAL, DL & FedEx.
In today’s hiring environment why would anyone go to Alaska or Southwest?

UPS has good pay & A Plan, but the schedules are rough. Even @ 26 yrs.

Southwest, hands down.

How many CEOs has SWA had in the last 25 years? Three.

How many CEOs has United had in the last 25 years? 9-10?

If you’re the aviation equivalent of Tom Brady, and I’m sure you’re better looking, which team do you want to play for?

Oh boy. Making a career choice based on a CEO 🤦‍♂️, very objective and well thought out plan.

I am pretty sure WN has had more than 3 CEOs. Not that it matters but let’s get the facts correct .

it’s science.

In hindsight…. Southwest without any hesitation. Flown with plenty of guys furloughed from United after 9/11 who then would have gotten the shaft again in 2007. Yet, in 2000 and even in 2001, people were leaving Southwest to go to United.

Going forward? United seems to be a better choice with much quicker upgrades and movements due to retirements. But there’s that unknown factor.

But then again, if I could predict the future, I certainly wouldn’t be an airline pilot.

We live in a different era. Pre-Covid, I would tell you that one of the biggest selling points of Southwest was never having furloughed. During Covid, our management burned that record, backed up over it, and stomped on it again by sending WARN Act notices to 1221 pilots 120 days before any furlough was supposed to take effect and all to insert a force majeur clause in our contract and pretend we were gonna save the airline by taking a 10% paycut.

With this maneuver and series of incompetent decisions, Southwest has made itself no different than any other legacy airline with a few notable exceptions:

- We fly one type of airplane and we aren’t doubling in size anytime soon.

- We have a relatively young pilot group which means our retirements are minimal… or to borrow our management’s word… “flattish”

Based on those two factors, your career progression will suffer because upgrade will take a decade or longer.

You’ll see in W2 threads that Southwest pilots can and do make a lot. It comes at an expense of QOL and it gets to be long term. Also, Southwest has many bases that you can get into….

Money in the bank (Southwest) doesn’t mean anything if we have another major event like the MAX grounding. Bottom line…. Roll the dice and enjoy the ride.