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"I don't get you sometimes busdriver. YOu pretty much always slam Southwest, Jetblue, and Airtran pilots for being underpaid, but in another thread on UAL you post what you claim to have averaged the past couple of years, and even I, a lowly government worker, make more, and I am by no means "living large"."
Put it all together and what you'll see is if you are a GS-12 or so, yes you make more than a SWA F/O, and a junior UAL, AMR, DAL, NWA, U, (did I leave anyone out?). The big diff is you can actually make a descent living once you get past the first few years as a F/O at the others, buit to make a descent living at SWA, you pretty much must upgrade to Capt OR fly a lot of OT.
"Heck, what you claim to make is not much more than a first year flight attendant at Southwest."
You must be misinformed about what a first year SWA F/A makes. It's nowhere near 50K.
"You should take the furlough, as you can then get paid more than a Southwest pilot AND you can get one of those plum government jobs to supplement your income."
Had a gov job, I wanted to become useful though[😛]. I actually do put a considerable amount of time "helping out" by flying for the reserves.