Which Legacy/Major do you want to work at and why...

Choose one...

  • American

    Votes: 29 11.8%

  • Delta

    Votes: 59 24.0%

  • FedEx

    Votes: 32 13.0%

  • Southwest

    Votes: 33 13.4%

  • United

    Votes: 58 23.6%

  • UPS

    Votes: 7 2.8%

  • Alaska

    Votes: 10 4.1%

  • Hawaiian

    Votes: 7 2.8%

  • JetBlue

    Votes: 11 4.5%
  • Total voters
    246
@OP
I wish I had an answer! I had freight via Atlas in mind but after flying night cargo for the past year until midnight to dawn, I don't ever want to tread that path again. It just isn't for me.

I would love to work for UAL just to be Chicago based where I grew up. Their livery is on most of the regional birds that I operate anyway, haha.

Alaska is also a place that I would enjoy working. I had a great time taking them to work while I flew freight in the bush. I really miss the flying up north and wish that I had stayed put a while longer.

Bottom line whoever calls first, I will have to pass out on JetBlue if American called, insert whatever your airlines of choice are, etc
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
I think it's a pretty area. Done the Boeing factory tour and took a cruise out of SEA.

At this point, it's all about the family. Have one kid, probably work on a second soon, and parents/brothers are all in PA which is a driving distance from NJ. Inlaws are all in DTW. While AS does fly SEA-DTW, there is none to PIT/CLE, and it would always be a 2-leg nightmare non-rev or confirmed tickets, which is going to add up big time. I like to do at least 4 trips to PA per year and it's so easy by just driving it in. Plus, family can come here relatively easily.

I lived in the Bay Area for ~15months and that's where we had the baby. It was basically like living in exile with the distance away from family. Given a choice, I'm an east coast boy. As an added bonus, I'm basically back in NJ in the same exact area that we first moved to this country in 1992. My grocery store and local park are the same that my dad took took me 20-25 years ago. Now I take my son to those same places. Nostalgia, or whatever it's called. There's a certain value that can't be put on something like this. Plus, dad's side of the family is in Manhattan and mom's side in Toronto. I literally have no family west of DTW.


Bimmerphile where did you get hired, CommutAir?
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To follow up on this, I browsed through our July pairings (and June + May) for SFO and LAX and I have to say I was astonished to see so many EWR and JFK overnights, despite the fact that EWR/JFK/LGA is a pilot base. If Alaska were to close the NYC base, they would have to have a massive amount of EWR and JFK layovers built even further into LAX/SFO pairings. I've even seen some that are [start California] overnight EWR, back to California day 2, to New York day 3, back to California day 4. Come to think of it, commuting to that might actually not be too bad... I'd get 2 nights out of 4 at home on that pairing. As it stands right now, when I do a 4-day trip, all 3 nights are away from base. Of course a transcon commute at each end would suck, but in the mean time, getting trips that layover in New York would be an offset and allow time at home. Relative seniority wise, I'm actually worst in NYC as a FO I'm around 45%. In LAX I'd be about 30% and in SFO about 33%. So for a 4-day trip, it would be a ~ 6 hr commute westbound, 5.5 hr eastbound, but then even one overnight that's in EWR at greater than 15 hours would really help offset that. Throw in 2 NYC overnights in one trip, and it would really equate to more time at home. Just something to think about.
 
As a matter of fact...
$140.00/hour
10 hours commuting per trip
3 trips a month (at least)
$50,000/year in unpaid travel
Don't do it. I have done all this BS in my head. That's why I will be moving to base this year after almost 10 years doing a 4+ hour commute.
 
AAPalmTree said:
Yes it will. Commuting sucks. A transcon commute will slowly suck the life out of you.
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Richman's rules for commuting:

1) Stay in the same time zone, or if forced, only +/- 1
2) Keep the number of legs to one, and only one.
3) Company metal. ONLY. Not Connection, or Express, or Airlink. COMPANY METAL.
4) Be OK making less than your contemporaries living in base, and having fewer days off.

Anything else, and you'll grow old at a rate not to your liking.

Richman
 
Richman said:
Richman's rules for commuting:

1) Stay in the same time zone, or if forced, only +/- 1
2) Keep the number of legs to one, and only one.
3) Company metal. ONLY. Not Connection, or Express, or Airlink. COMPANY METAL.
4) Be OK making less than your contemporaries living in base, and having fewer days off.

Anything else, and you'll grow old at a rate not to your liking.

Richman
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Corollary to (3): if you are Connection/Express/Airlink, YOUR METAL, not mainline.
 
AAPalmTree said:
As a matter of fact...
$140.00/hour
10 hours commuting per trip
3 trips a month (at least)
$50,000/year in unpaid travel
Don't do it. I have done all this BS in my head. That's why I will be moving to base this year after almost 10 years doing a 4+ hour commute.
Click to expand...

I agree with you but I've moved 3 times for the airlines. It's not my fault a base downsizes or closes. Airline mergers. And I can't keep uprooting and moving myself at every occurrence of it.
 
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Richman said:
Richman's rules for commuting:

1) Stay in the same time zone, or if forced, only +/- 1
2) Keep the number of legs to one, and only one.
3) Company metal. ONLY. Not Connection, or Express, or Airlink. COMPANY METAL.
4) Be OK making less than your contemporaries living in base, and having fewer days off.

Anything else, and you'll grow old at a rate not to your liking.

Richman
Click to expand...

I've found going west one time zone to be the absolute best. You can leave on a 0600 flight from SLC and be landing around 0630 in LAX. Coming home, there's a 2200 flight going back home.

Almost everything is commutable when you've got options like that.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
When it works as flawlessly as it can, it's, uh, flawless.

But I hate, hate, hate sitting there thinking about when I will be able to get home.
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I used to have this experience.

Until I started doing a commute with 25 flights a day. If you're ok with riding the bus, you're ok with that kind of a commute. If you hate waiting for the bus or subway, well, live next to the airport.
 
jtrain609 said:
I used to have this experience.

Until I started doing a commute with 25 flights a day. If you're ok with riding the bus, you're ok with that kind of a commute. If you hate waiting for the bus or subway, well, live next to the airport.
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I was surprised at how little there was flight-wise late in the day between SFO and LAX this week; if not for the fact that we hauled ass going home on our delayed leg, I would have had ONE shot at getting home (or at least to where my car was) - I could have made SBA, but that doesn't help much.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
I was surprised at how little there was flight-wise late in the day between SFO and LAX this week; if not for the fact that we hauled ass going home on our delayed leg, I would have had ONE shot at getting home (or at least to where my car was) - I could have made SBA, but that doesn't help much.
Click to expand...

Best kept secret in the SFO-LAX commute: the Atlas Air flight at 10PM.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
@Derg how have you done it? Haven't you always commuted out of PHX for ATL, MCO, DFW, ATL, NYC, and DTW? What's your secret
Click to expand...

There is no secret.

The opportunity needs to be worth the hassle. Like I could have held captain since the merger, but only on the mad dog and there was no way in hell I was going to grind my brains out for the same (effectively less) money as a widebody FO.
 
Derg said:
There is no secret.

The opportunity needs to be worth the hassle. Like I could have held captain since the merger, but only on the mad dog and there was no way in hell I was going to grind my brains out for the same (effectively less) money as a widebody FO.
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You could move. Where you live is third in terms of cities/states, behind IAH and New Jersey.

Youz gotz emailz, brotein shake. Which I'm sure you're well aware of...
 
There are nice places to live in almost any city in America. Unless you have kids that are entrenched in school or some other really strong reason to stay in an area, move within driving distance of a base. If you're working for a regional then commute until you can get out as its to dynamic to be worthwhile. Do not waste your life commuting.
 
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