Originally Posted by
2005 Blues
I live in Seattle. One leg, 3 hour flight to get to work. FDX has a flight going up 5 days a week. Coming back need to go offline, Alaska has many flights to Seattle. Continental and Delta also have one a day too. Overall, not too bad and the flying in ANC is excellent on the MD-11 IMO.
Now if you live anywhere else in the lower 48, your commute could get quite painful. MEM, IND, and EWR all have daily direct flights, albeit long ones. Anywhere else is going to involve multiple legs and could take a L-O-N-G time and make your month a nightmare. Especially if you're junior and have to make the commute 3 times a month. I know many guys who've done it from San Antonio, Atlanta, or others but they said it was extremely difficult.
Depends where you live, SEA not too bad. I don't think I'd want to do it if I lived anywhere else.
I agree with most of this post, except where our friend Blues says "SEA not too bad". I'd say not too good. If you live in SEA, maybe you can make it work with marginally less stress than some others, but anywhere else, forget it. Offline twice or three times to get there isn't going to work for long.
Yes, FedEx has flights in the AM to ANC and you can get on them. No, you can't commute into the majority of the flying there on them. So, you almost always have to go up the night before, seriously impacting quality of life. Most guys are now just buying tickets because jumpseating offline is a major gamble, now we're talking say 2 commutes both ways, $1000. Alaska is pretty much the only game in town (with 2 CALs) and they often will canx flights if loads don't look that great. In that case SEA becomes a jail and I've seen it personally where nobody can nonrev or jump to Anchorage for a week. Too bad if your flight leaves tomorrow. SEA as a "choke point" is a major understatement. Coming back from ANC is brutal. Especially in the winter when there are only like 11 flights a day. The whole state wants to escape and if you are lucky enough to get a jumpseat, you'll be eating your knees for three hours...with another bubba sitting right up against you. It's a joy!
As for guys leaving ANC because of all these reasons in addition to the ones mentioned through the thread, that's true. I can't believe how many guys are planning to punch out back to Memphis and it's all because of the commute. Blues is right. If you live in Indy or Newark, sure get on and enjoy your 6 hour leg to work, as long as that doesn't canx or equipment sub, or whatever. Anywhere else, I wouldn't even try it. Unless you're senior and if that's the case, you probably could have been up there by now anyway. If you're junior, I'd consider a move there, or bid MEM. Everyone who wants a widebody almost could hold it there.
Bottom line, commuting isn't any piece of cake to ANC. It isn't going to get any easier if they open an FDA in HKG as the flying will likely go down the drain. In that case, everyone is going bid out. We'll be back to Purple Nuggets Deux in no time.
Plus, it rains constantly in Seattle and that's no fun for anyone.
WM