Originally Posted by
Hitch18
Hey everyone,
I'm an ex-military guy interested in flying for Alaska and like the title says, I plan on living in Canada and working in Seattle. There is one non-stop per day which is a 1hr flight or if I have to go to Vancouver makes it two stops and 3 hrs duration including layovers.
My first question for the current Alaska Pilots is whats it like to commute for Alaska for the long term? Do most people stick with Alaska because they live in the PNW? If I need to commute to Seattle for the rest of my career would you recommend Alaska or Delta? Second question: is there anything preventing me from commuting from Canada itself? Do I need to be a US resident according to the contract or anything like that?
Thanks
I looked into this. You'd probably be better off driving from Vancouver to SEA. I have a NEXUS card and all the fast pass options. Clearing customs at SEA is easy. Vancouver can be a nightmare if your flight arrives at the same times as the Asian inbound flights. Also you have to spend a lot of money on taxes as there is some kind of tax for non rev passengers who travel internationally. This could get expensive. In addition it will take a long time until you can hold a commuter friendly line. So you'll spend the majority of your time in a crashpad in SEA. This will be a big issue while you are on reserve. Maybe less as a line holder but current staffing issues have FOs flying maximum hours with no ability to drop or trade. So it could get very ugly. I wouldn't recommend it unless you were single. The upside is that you'd make a lot more money than someone who worked at a Canadian airline flying the same equipment.