With Mr. Owens's and curbcrusher's posts today, it looks like the official position is that neither of our dogs will hunt. Mr. Owens says that Southwest doesn't intend to even diversify into -800s, let alone other models or ETOPS. He argues strongly for keeping things just as they are as far as management can see: "Brick walls" and "We can't." ...going on to explain why other aircraft won't fit in Southwest's fleet. (So it wasn't just hyperbole.) And curbcrusher is uncertain that ETOPS is necessary to Southwest's first international destination, Cancun. (Frankly, I was uncertain of my premise that getting to CUN requires flying >150 miles offshore. Guess not, if Mr. Owens says no ETOPS.)

Edit: num1bearsfan said Cancun will be Southwest's first international destination.