Another former AS, here. Left last summer.

I got the 220 and had to commute to NY for a few months before getting back to SEA. Even commuting across the country to NY, I was home in SEA more than when I was a 737 SEA FO at Alaska. Now that I’m based at home, it’s not even close.

I say that with the caveat that the 220 FO side is one of the very few (maybe the only) OVERstaffed fleet at Delta right now. So it’s very easy to drop days and move things around. Other NB fleets probably don’t have the same experience. However, SEA 737 people aren’t even sitting on reserve right now, and even the most junior people are gettin lines with 17-18 days off…something I never saw in my almost 3 years at Alaska.

Now Delta has some issues, so it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. If you’re on a NB, you will work harder than you did at Alaska. Alaska trips were much more chill, mostly because they just don’t have that robust of route structure. So lots of 24 hour overnights and then turn around and fly one leg back to the west coast. Delta is max duty day, RIDICULOUSLY long outstation sits, min rest overnight, wash rinse and repeat. It can be pretty brutal and hopefully something is done about it (although unfortunately this new TA fails to address it at all).

Overall though, it’s just a much better airline (whoops) than Alaska and it’s really not even close.

One last thing I will add is that the 220 train seems to be slowing because no one seems to be bidding off of the fleet (because it’s a hidden gem!) so the quickest way to SEA these days is the 737 and A320. Just some food for thought.