Originally Posted by RJSAviator76

I enjoy these X vs. Y threads because they prove that no answer is absolute... we all value different things at different stages. I’m a SWA captain, and for me, the choice was simple: stay local or move the family. I refuse to commute, and staying put has turned into a very lucrative career move.

I’ll be the first to admit that United has a massive edge in fleet diversity and rapid seniority movement within the narrow-body ranks. If you hate the 737, United's fleet flexibility is something we just can't match, and that shouldn't be discounted. I actually missed the cut at United years ago after failing the Hogan, and while I briefly considered reapplying during our 2022 meltdown, the math didn't add up. Even with a quick upgrade at United, walking away from my seniority and progress at SWA would have meant leaving millions of dollars on the table over the course of my career.

The fundamental difference between our two pilot groups is how we approach the "game." At United, the goal seems to be the highest pay for the least amount of work and the highest pilot count. At Southwest, we are grinders. We actually start grumbling if we’re overstaffed because it would kill the premium flying. In fact, one of the gains in our contract is that we forced the company to offer premium flying if the first day of the trip goes across the reserve RAP and not allow them to break it up to use reserves instead if there are legal premium bidders for the whole trip. My "worst" month at SWA was around 125 TFP, which is still 30% over the typical line award. Throughout my career, even as a junior CA, I’ve averaged over 150 TFP monthly, and the real players here regularly clear 200+ without hitting FAR limits. As a SWA FO, I was regularly out-earning my junior UAL 737 captain buds. As a captain now here, it's not even in the same league, especially when you take into account seniority and even SWA junior pilots ability to credit big numbers... but my UAL buds can change fleets and virtually work for a different airline simply by changing fleet while a SWA pilot is in the same grind. As I said, this cannot be discounted.

Of course, if I don't want to work and have zero interest in anything beyond my line, at SWA I'll have 17-20 days off per month and do something else. The only way we have 15 days off per month is you are on reserve as our regular lines are built to have 17 to 20 days off per month. If you have 12-14 days off, you're picking up extra work as a reserve or a line holder.

One last thing, our contractual flexibility is also a big differentiator that is often overlooked in these comparisons. We can trade across the entire system regardless of domicile or line holder vs. reserve pilot restrictions; for instance, an LAX pilot can swap his four-day trip for say a MDW pilot’s reserve block, or we can just go see what other pilots across the system are giving away. It's not uncommon for say pilots on the West Coast to give away their Hawaii flying and someone from our midwest bases would commute to fly their 4 day Hawaii trip while the West Coast guy chases premium flying. This is one of the few benefits of having a single fleet type.

I do think UAL pilots live much more of an airline pilot life than SWA pilots. At SWA, it's a narrowbody grind no matter how you slice it, but SWA pilot will generally out-earn his UAL counterpart, or if they don't pick up extra, they'll generally have more time off the hook.

Originally Posted by Agratefulflyer

call me shallow but this to me is the ultimate selling point. Although I gave up a Southwest CJO I much prefer how they do things, and how the money is made.That flexibility and earnings can’t be beat. Also Having over 20k pilots doesn’t sound appealing at all for any companies profit sharing, and premium pick ups anyway. Only time will tell how that goes for UA.

Originally Posted by Swakid8

‘I think I’ve rather have more pilots on the list in an industry that is known to furlough when there’s a hiccup…. Flexibility at Southwest is hard to beat, I cannot and refuse to dispute that. Ability to make money at Southwest is hard to beat, I too will not refute that….

But I make good money as is, enjoy the variety of flying that United offers..

Originally Posted by RStrawberry

The flip side is that those joining the bottom of the 20k pilot list don’t feel comfortable at all, so I can see why some might seek alternatives. You guys hired in the foggy mirror era get the benefit of never having to worry about furloughs. The rest of us absolutely do have to factor that.

Originally Posted by Swakid8

‘’I think many many many people have suggested for you remain at Big Beautiful Frontier….

Originally Posted by RJSAviator76

At SWA, we still do plane swaps, but I really don't think it's the same way as you guys do. It's a gamble when we pass through a base - I'd say 50/50 we'll have a plane swap, but just as often you blaze on through without switching. The Jetway Jesus miracles have dropped tremendously with assigned seating, so it's been actually quicker. I like it so far, and the pax - some like it, others don't. Can't please everyone.

Yesterday, I went to the End of 2025 W-2 thread, and looked up some NB numbers for United and one thing that stood out to me was that you guys at least on the NB side fly roughly the same number of hours as our hustlers do, but actually get paid a little less. This is why I like those threads as you can really see the effect of the work rules and the soft money vs. just the rate.

Here are some UAL posts and I'll highlight what caught my eye. You guys definitely put in some serious work too in your NB ranks as well.

This first one is sort of a baseline with hours and credit.



This WB FO is a decent case check on what's doable given the seniority.




Here's a WB FO that can hold line holder NB CA with medium hustle



This one caught my eye because of days including reserve days vs. pay.



On the one below, the block time to pay ratio really catches my eye as this is presumably a senior NB captain just flying his line.



This strikes me as an average UAL pilot off probation. Please correct me if I'm wrong.





And here are some UAL pilots that I tip my hat off to on both sides of the spectrum:



This is the pilot who's gonna kill it no matter where he is. The question is how easy is this to do if you're on a junior spectrum of the fleet you're on at United once the upgrade is complete? In other words, is it sustainable for a junior pilot?



After a long career, a hat-tip to the senior WB captain playing the game:



And a NB UAL captain playing the game as well:



Here are some SWA examples.

Summer hustling FO:





Here's a junior captain who was clinging to the bottom in DEN before getting displaced this year made last year:



Another fairly junior captain commuter:



I'm also a junior captain who lives in base. Here are my numbers:



Here are some more junior SWA FO examples.

This sounds like a bit of an outlier.



Another game playing junior FO



But if you only fly your line and never take advantage of what the contract offers you for whatever reason, this is more likely, granted this is a senior FO:



This is why I like to see the info on W-2 threads. It's nice to see what's possible within our each contractual guardrails. This post isn't made to sway anyone one way or another. It's merely one to illustrate what's doable, what's possible and how much work it takes to get certain results. Granted, all these posts are anecdotal, but at least it gives some some guidance to compare the two places.

I still maintain that one cannot quantify the ability to change fleets and switch back and forth between WB and NB fleets either chasing seniority, upgrade, money, quality of life work and quality of life at home. That's where UAL wins hands down. If one is only interested in money/days off ratio, then SWA seems to be a very formidable competitor as you don't have to upgrade into junior CA position like at UAL to see the big bucks and being on the hook for 18 days a month. 18 days of work (or being on reserve) in a month at SWA = serious $$$$$$ as it's never assigned that way out of the gate, but it's always self-inflicted. But once you do upgrade as a junior CA as SWA, you can still crush it pretty easily, but you will have been on the property a lot longer than a UAL captain of the similar seniority in the fleet.

Some questions for UAL guys on the board... You had some seriously low upgrade times. Has that changed a bit? Also, what does your WB upgrade time currently look like?

Originally Posted by RJSAviator76

Also, what does your WB upgrade time currently look like?

Originally Posted by feelthebern

Curious what your advice (along with UAL guys) would be to someone with CJOs at both SWA and UAL at 27 years old on which way to lean. Willing to move to any base at either company.

My gut and heart says UAL, but that pay at SWA is hard to pass up… Feels foolish to just choose a carrier based on pay, though, considering that stuff evens out over 38 years