Bucky wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060620/...west_runway_dc

Excerpts:

"Veteran Capt. Bruce Sutherland and first officer Steven Oliver decided
to bring the Boeing 737 down on December 8 despite snow, conflicting
reports on runway conditions, and their initial indecision about using
the aircraft's automatic braking system, which could mean a more abrupt
stop... Sutherland felt he was not familiar enough with the enhanced
braking system to use it in bad weather and the two spent a long time
reviewing calculations to see if they could land safely in Chicago...
The safety board has been looking at when the pilots activated the
engine thrust reversers, which help slow a plane once it's down. They
were turned on 18 seconds after touchdown; Four or five seconds is
common."

News reports also stated they decided against diverting to STL,
which would have incurred various extra costs. I hope that
SWA doesn't apply pressure to avoid diverting due to $$.

Returning from HNL once, I landed at ORD (UAL mileage plus award)
rest of group due at MDW on ATA got diverted to Indy during a storm.

JG