Originally Posted by Flymeaway

I'm curious for some PSA pilots' opinions. I'm prior military (helos) with my ATP (ME) but no 121 time. My wife is still on active duty, and we're getting transferred to Colorado Springs (about an hour's drive from DEN). I know that there are several regionals with domiciles in DEN/COS, but TSA has like 1000 pages of hate about getting paid, and it looks like right now, it would take me at least 9+ months just to even get reserve at DEN or COS at Skywest.

Between Skw and PSA, the base pay is about the same, but the bonuses are significantly higher at PSA. That said, I won't be relying on my airline pay to pay the bills at least for 3 years. My wife's salary and BAH will easily cover that...I just need to get established with the airlines before the hiring wave is over so that I have a job that will support us when she retires (after the 3 years.)

I hadn't been looking at the east coast regionals because I hear commuting is as bad as bad gets. I'd be commuting for at least 9 months at Skw, but I'd be commuting for at least 3 years at PSA. I read the last 40 pages or so of this thread because of some posts about being able to easily change your schedules, and that that makes a huge difference in QoL.

I guess my question is: Assuming that you'll have to commute for almost a year regardless, would you choose to continue to commute at PSA with your scheduling freedom, or live in base at another regional? Ignore the AA flow, and the extra money at PSA would probably be spent on the commute, I imagine.

Thank you very much for your opinions!