Originally Posted by
TrojanCMH
Honest questions… Do you have a wife/husband that has a career? Do you have kids in school? Do your kids have grandparents who want to see them nearby? Does your spouse have their whole family and support system in the city you are thinking about moving them away from?
I’d love to live in base but don’t have the heart to yank my kids away from their friends and my wife away from her family just so I don’t have to catch a 1.5 hour flight to goto work. I’d love to be 25 again and let my lease run its course and move wherever I wanted but sometimes it isn’t that easy. I lived in base for 10 years with my previous airline and have commuted for 6 since I left. I get how nice it is driving to work but the pros don’t outweigh the cons in my situation. I also love where I live.
But sure, all things being equal, living in base is the best option. Being single with nothing tying you down is also a good option as a pilot.
Yes kids
Wife has the toughest career which is raising the kids but no W2 job
Moved to the area we currently live in to be near my wife’s family and I continued to commute. Got hired at spirit and was able to stay put and no longer commute. Life was great.
Ironically we are the only ones left here considering we moved to the area to be near family and it’s a big reason I’m at spirit. Over time each member of the family had life changes via career movement etc that took them elsewhere. Some of them wanted us to follow them because we I had the ability to commute and they had to live where they work. I said I’d never go back to commuting and it wasn’t fair for them to ask me to make that sacrifice when they couldn’t do the same.
I am very close with all my in-laws and my kids with their cousins and grandparents. At first everyone involved was pretty bummed but honestly it was one of the best things for us. My wife and kids were more able to branch out in the community socially and school involvement because we weren’t constantly involved with family. We all made many more friends. Downside is we have to take a lengthy drive or a flight for holidays and we have to pay a babysitter if we want to go out without the kids.
I moved several times as a kid up until high school. Kids are pretty resilient and what they get back in time from us being around a ton more is worth it.
I started this job commuting because I have a family member that’s been commuting for over 35yrs and I thought it was an amazing perk. I started to really hate this job after 8 years of doing it but I didn’t know any different. Just figured it was part of the job. Always thought the bonus was living where I wanted to live. I started to realize I wasn’t actually LIVING there. I was just there on my days off and think constantly about bidding, trading, and planning commutes. I don’t do any of that now.
Let’s not even discount the financial cost of commuting. So much money is left on the table commuting plus the actual cost of the act. You can be home a ton more and make more all at the same time living in base.
You’re also a lot more pleasant to work with. Commuters tend to be grumpier, less alert, and more stressed than in base pilots in my experience.
To each their own. Commuting is seen a perk to many. It took me a long time to figure out I wasted a lot of time and money with that mentality.