I only flew Boeing planes in the airlines.

I have only flown to NZ in Flight Sim... on another note I did notice that NZ was raising their threat level from baaa to BAAA!  ;D

Don't know about the outsourcing of maintenance at SW, but most airlines have a portion of their work done outside by a contractor or other airline. This is not just a SW problem, it's just that they fly so many short cycle flights.

Lou