Originally Posted by
viper548
Did you commute? I've been an airline pilot for 14 years, 10 at a regional and 4 at a major. I've commuted about half the time at both jobs, and it sucks. Living in base is a completely different experience. Currently I live in base and bid short call reserve (by choice). I've flown 6 days so far this month and I only have 4 more reserve days left. I didn't have the seniority to get thanksgiving off but my reserve day starts at 6pm tomorrow. After 6pm on a holiday there's not much flying left. When I get a trip it's usually one leg out, spend the night and one leg back.
I was forced to commute after the STL base closed, from STL-ORD. It was notoriously tough due to all the former TWA pilots and full airplanes that competed for a seat - often it was 3 or 4 flights before I caught one.
Congrats on living in base reserve, how high on the reserve seniority list do you stand? That sounds completely unlike my reserve experience, where we often flew 100-hour months.