ORD easy commutes and alternative cities for a millennial

Don't do MIA - ORD as a skywest guy. Tons of mainline and displaced MIA eagle guys who commute to ORD that will bump you off the jumpseat on AA. Not to mention the united jumpseat computer is somehow lumping us in as OAL instead of united express. Avoid MIA.
 
RDU-ORD was a tough commute on Skywest, lots of mainline UAL guys who didn't understand jumpseat priority on regionals. On the plus side, there's always southwest to MDW as a backup.

Raleigh/the triangle is an awesome city, but I'd look at Asheville. 3 flights a day on Skywest and in a pinch you could get over to Knoxville or Charlotte in less than 2 hours.
 
zmiller4 said:
RDU-ORD was a tough commute on Skywest, lots of mainline UAL guys who didn't understand jumpseat priority on regionals. On the plus side, there's always southwest to MDW as a backup.

Raleigh/the triangle is an awesome city, but I'd look at Asheville. 3 flights a day on Skywest and in a pinch you could get over to Knoxville or Charlotte in less than 2 hours.
Click to expand...

Asheville also puts you within a relatively short drive of GSP.
 
RamRise said:
Hey guys, new hire at Skywest here, based in ORD at the moment and looking to plan the next 2-4 yrs around this job and base before I can hopefully move on to a major. I've packed up and moved from the west coast and am settling in but I wanted to get some quick advice on other cities this side of the Rockies that might be suitable and easily commutable. Seeing as ORD is the junior ERJ base for FOs and CAs, looks like I may be based here a while. I figure most of you will say keep living in base, but perhaps others may provide some intel.

I'm liking Chicago so far, plenty of cultural attractions, but it is tough to live on first year FO wages in this city and not live like a peasant. Also, I'm a very outdoorsy type and not that into frigid weather, and I feel like after time the strictly city life is gonna start to eat away at me. I'm willing to give it a shot but also entertaining ideas of relocating to somewhere comfortable for the short term (2-4yrs), hoping to hear your guys experience and opinions on a few cities with a one leg commute that are more affordable and may be more my style (mid size, young crowd, outdoor/health conscious, and more affordable). I'm looking to travel abroad atleast part of the time hopefully and just need a place to come home to that is more human scale if you know what I'm saying. It would be great if I could also find an affordable place with a bit of a backyard for bbq and gardening. Somewhat easy ocean access would be another bonus. A city of 300k to 1 mil with an downtown core and restaurants/bars/clubs would be a nice addition as I am single. I know I'm asking a lot but hopefully there is a place for me!

What are you thoughts on: Atlanta, RDU, STL, PIT, Columbus, Milwaukee, Savannah, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Richmond/Norfolk ? Feel free to reply on as many or few of those cities or others I haven't thought of.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
If you want to stay in ORD you could always find a gig around the area? I flight instructed at SNA while based in PSP. I did it part time. The way things are going with the shortage of CFI's you could make $300 per day easily.
 
matthew said:
Don't do MIA - ORD as a skywest guy. Tons of mainline and displaced MIA eagle guys who commute to ORD that will bump you off the jumpseat on AA. Not to mention the united jumpseat computer is somehow lumping us in as OAL instead of united express. Avoid MIA.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize we weren't always OAL? So if I jumpseat on United I have a higher priority than non UAX carriers employee's/pilots? (Or does it just vary a lot?)
 
If outdoorsy stuff is your thing,EAU might be worth looking into. It's smaller than MSN,but it's a college town and it's not far from decent hunting and fishing. Skywest flies 2 200s to ORD daily and they are rarely full


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
zmiller4 said:
RDU-ORD was a tough commute on Skywest, lots of mainline UAL guys who didn't understand jumpseat priority on regionals. On the plus side, there's always southwest to MDW as a backup.

Raleigh/the triangle is an awesome city, but I'd look at Asheville. 3 flights a day on Skywest and in a pinch you could get over to Knoxville or Charlotte in less than 2 hours.
Click to expand...

I had to do that Southwest MDW option a few times out of BNA . That 2.5 hr train ride to ORD was brutal, especially later in the evening.
 
SeanD said:
I had to do that Southwest MDW option a few times out of BNA . That 2.5 hr train ride to ORD was brutal, especially later in the evening.
Click to expand...

There used to be the coach USA for like $20, which was worth it if you had to get to midway fast at the end of a trip.

When I was MKE based in 2008 I missed an afternoon flight for the next mornings trip out of RDU, then missed two ORD flights, then got the last choice MDW flight followed by the 3hr coach USA to MKE. I learned from that.
 
RamRise said:
I didn't realize we weren't always OAL? So if I jumpseat on United I have a higher priority than non UAX carriers employee's/pilots? (Or does it just vary a lot?)
Click to expand...

Correct. But the computer won't automatically award you ahead of an OAL pilot if you check in after them like Delta's system would.
 
It has been about a year since the last Chicago M&G...I'm in Naperville and there are plenty of us around. I'm always looking for an excuse to drink beer!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top