How many people commute?

I commuted for over five years when I worked at Pinnacle, and I was miserable, but I never realized how miserable I had been until I came to AirTran and stopped commuting. The difference is really night and day. It's a completely different lifestyle. If I ever had to start flying at a different base, it would be very difficult for me to start commuting again, even though I really don't want to move from Atlanta.

Commuting sucks. Don't do it unless you absolutely have to.
 
Commute...RTB/SAP-IAH, not too bad other than there is only one flight per day. I used to commute to reserve and a close commute at that (tul-tyr) and it was horrible, I drove most of the time just to stay sane.
 
kellwolf said:
Right now, I live in base, but I hate where I live. I'd much rather be back "home" in Orlando, but commuting to reserve is akin to the seventh level of hell. If I was a line holder or I got more than, say, 12 days off in a month, I'd probably move back.
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I hate it here in MEM too. It's no wonder 70 to 80 percent of FX pilots commute out of here. But it's a little harder for us ground folks to commute than you guys although I do know a couple who do it. Too bad all the jobs are in industrial or crappy cities.
 
I commute MCO-JFK(soon MCO-DTW), ouch I know. What everyone says it stinks. I never worry about getting to work but always getting home. I lived in base when we had one and it was great. I won't move because bases close and open all the time. I know the jumpseats for the MD-88/737/757/A320 very, very well.
 
Soul Brotha' said:
I commute MCO-JFK(soon MCO-DTW), ouch I know. What everyone says it stinks. I never worry about getting to work but always getting home. I lived in base when we had one and it was great. I won't move because bases close and open all the time. I know the jumpseats for the MD-88/737/757/A320 very, very well.
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I was displaced to DTW for 3 months recently. The MCO-DTW isnt as bad as you think. There are usually 3 to 4 airlines going direct.. Delta, Spirit, Air Tran and Southwest. They way I usually did it was to fly Spirit up and Delta back. There are A LOT of guys doing this commute though. Luckily I made it everytime. The good thing is from DTW, Delta flys mostly 757's and a couple of Airbus's...
 
Everyone here is spot on with saying commuting sucks. I do DEN-ORD (and to reserve of all things), certainly one of the worst in the country. We went from nearly 30 flights a day a few years ago to about half that now. UAL is ALWAYS oversold and there are a million non-revs/jumpseaters.

Aside from being debt free as possible from training costs, the practice of avoiding commuting is probably the next best piece of advice one can give in this industry. It is no life to live and I cannot wait until the day I am no longer a commuter. I kid you not, if I had a crystal ball that said I would commute for the rest of my career I would find a new one stat. If that same crystal ball said I would continue to commute to reserve/crappy line I would quit today.

It will get better but not soon enough :crazy:
 
ATN_Pilot said:
I commuted for over five years when I worked at Pinnacle, and I was miserable, but I never realized how miserable I had been until I came to AirTran and stopped commuting. The difference is really night and day. It's a completely different lifestyle. If I ever had to start flying at a different base, it would be very difficult for me to start commuting again, even though I really don't want to move from Atlanta.

Commuting sucks. Don't do it unless you absolutely have to.
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:yeahthat:

I went from living literally 5 minutes from the hangar... to a DFW-ORD commute. Arguable one of the 9 Circles. At one point I did it on reserve.

Suck-o-rama. Back to living in base.. and the time saved.. and the stress reduced.. is the shizzle.

Commute if you want- but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
 
I want to point out something that is a hallmark of the worst commutes:

Hub to hub within a system.

If you live in say, Houston, and work in say, Newark, your commute is going to be horrible. Not only are there are zillion non revs on that route, but there are a zillion deadheads on that route, which will kill your commute faster than you can possibly imagine. I've seen 30+ paying passengers get bumped off IAH-EWR legs.

So if you think to yourself, "Oh I'll just live in the hub city of my airline, but commute to another base inside that system," allow this thread to be a warning that you have another thing coming.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Former hubs are even worse. Ask all of the Delta and ASA guys that still live in DFW and have to commute to ATL after the DFW base closed.
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ZOMG seriously dude!

BGR-EWR has gotta be the worst in the CAL system. I know people that have easier commutes from Europe than that one, and it's all because of the CAL/XJT guys from Bar Harbor.
 
My last few months at Horizon, it was a weekly commute from Atlanta to Portland, OR. Non-stops were always full as was Seattle most days. Typically I would go ATL-DEN-PDX to get to work. Coming back home was alotbof times harder than getting to work.
 
SurferLucas said:
My last few months at Horizon, it was a weekly commute from Atlanta to Portland, OR. Non-stops were always full as was Seattle most days. Typically I would go ATL-DEN-PDX to get to work. Coming back home was alotbof times harder than getting to work.
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Coming home is sometimes the hardest part.

BCT = Body Clock Time.

Now imagine waking up at 1230 BCT after a mid-day nap, flying until say 0300 BCT, doing the customs shuffle, running across the airport to catch a 4 1/2 hr flight to PHX, getting in line and having some OAL dude tell you that it's "his" jumpseat, even though he wasn't in line! :)
 
Doug Taylor said:
...getting in line and having some OAL dude tell you that it's "his" jumpseat, even though he wasn't in line! :)
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That's when you take the jumpseat and give him the "Stone Cold" X-arms across the crotch and yell "You just got Doug Taylored son!"

(Please someone photo shop this so we can use it when speaking of getting "Doug Taylored")

I think I hit up every hub between PDX and ATL coming home. Atleast in the afternoons I could usually get AA from PDX-DFW-ATL and get home about 1am...but that was killer.
 
Well I did commute for 4 years. I was only one of a very few dispatchers that commuted.

When I was at ATA way back when, we hired a dispatcher that was laid off from Mahalo (sp?) in Hawaii. And yes he commuted between HNL and IND for about 5 months. We were working a 4-4 schedule but still......
 
I used to commute, and it really wasn't that bad for me. I live in a medium-sized market and commuted to a major hub. There were 8 flights a day from RIC - LGA, and the early bird flights always had seats. I could usually finagle an on-call time of 7am on my first day, and would just commute in same day. 45 minutes later I was on the ground in NY. (I only got burned on that once when we had to divert to ABE due to bad weather and the early morning closure of 22 at LGA). If, on the off chance one of the early flights was booked, there were 2 or 3 flights to JFK that left between 545 and 630. If I end up at another carrier one day, that easy commute is one of the things I would miss. Although, RIC-ATL is a similar commute.
 
I commuted for a while, and now I live in base. Not much difference if you ask me. I never minded commuting . . . and I commuted to reserve!
 
I used to commute until this year. I always felt like I was visiting my house/city that I lived in. Now I drive 20 minutes to the employee lot and take a 15 minute bus into the secure area of the terminal. As a direct result of not commuting I am getting very good at golf, I'm back in the high 70's for the first time since high school. Commuting is necessary at times but should be avoided whenever possible.
 
Hootie said:
I used to commute until this year. I always felt like I was visiting my house/city that I lived in. Now I drive 20 minutes to the employee lot and take a 15 minute bus into the secure area of the terminal. As a direct result of not commuting I am getting very good at golf, I'm back in the high 70's for the first time since high school. Commuting is necessary at times but should be avoided whenever possible.
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You've gotta live in DEN?

Harsh.

That's ALMOST as bad as being based in SLC.

And living in Park City.

And bidding long call.

And answering scheduling from scheduling at the top of Empire.

"Hello, First Officer Train...Bob in scheduling? How ya doin'...a SFO turn tomorrow morning? Sure thing boss, I'll just keep gnaring these freshies until it's all tracked out, have a beer at lunch, maybe slay some crud this afternoon and be there bright and early tomorrow!"

Going to law school was the worst decision I've ever made, and moving away from Utah was the second worst decision I've ever made.
 
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