Originally Posted by
flybub
Hey everyone. I'll be joining you all soon and looking for some advice. It has been said on here that LGA and MIA are the junior bases, that I get. I will be a commuter for the first couple years out of Ohio. I live in between CLE and CMH so both are options for me for commuting. Eventually my wife and I plan on moving to CLT, but we have a Sophomore in HS and would like to get him through school before we move. I'm not too concerned about the airplane, even though all the jumpseaters I've had say bid the Bus. I prefer the easiest commute and quick seniority gain to hopefully get trips that are commuter friendly.
CMH-CLT has 4-6 flights per day. These are mostly all mainline.
CLE-ORD has 2-4 flights per day depending on the day on AA, and another 3-4 on UA. Worst case scenario and absolute last resort I could drive to ORD in 5-5.5 hours. I've seen a couple threads on here that most do not like to commute to ORD because of the high seniority and smaller base, but those posts were over a year ago.
NY is doable, but there is not an abundance of flights per day to each of the NY airports out of CLE. CMH has 2 sometimes 3 flights per day to each of the NY airports . CLE-EWR and CMH-EWR is higher frequency than JFK or LGA because of UA flights. From what I've read though, LGA commutable trips are hard to come by. That all being said there are 4-6 flights per day on AA out of CMH to JFK, LGA, and EWR and times are staggered.
CMH-DCA typically has 2 to 3 flights per day. Usually on YX.
PHL would be tough. Not too many options out of CMH or CLE to PHL.
CMH-DFW and CLE-DFW each have 2-4 per day depending on the day. But commuting across a time zone doesn't sound ideal.
Anyone commute out of CLE or CMH? I would appreciate any input how you arrived at your decision for a base.
Any suggestions or advice any of you have would be great. I look forward to joining you all!
Welcome to the team! We're genuinely excited to have you.
I would go with CLT and not look back. There are plenty of mainline flights each day from CLE, started with a 6 AM to CLT and an (almost) 11 PM going back home for you. This gives you great flexibility. Almost every trip will be commutable on both ends if you get the jumpseat. CLT also is the best-kept secret for commutable trips. It's "senior" but it's really not too difficult to hold LCR or a line, since a good amount bid SCR. Until you can get to CLT (you almost ceertainly won't get it in class), I'd go for DFW or ORD. Then I'd take LGA or DCA over MIA, based on flights.