I was a line holder based in JFK with a regional and I live down near PHL. It was a 3 hour drive for me and I bid early reports to avoid the traffic. I would have to get up at 0300, hit the road by 0330 and make it to JFK by 0630 for a 0730 show. No traffic at that hour all the way into the airport to speak of. I set a personal limit of 3 hours when we were looking for a house. Taxes played a big part of choosing where to live.

If I had an afternoon report, I would leave myself 6 hours between when I left the house and report time. One time I made it in with 3 minutes to spare because of a closed section of the NJ Turnpike.

The upside of this miserable commute is that I only had to do it once a week and you can't beat being able to finish a trip and walk out to your car and just drive home. No hotels if you miss the last flight, no trying to catch a few hours in the crew lounge before the first flight out in the AM.

Now, I commute from my house near PHL to SFO. I leave the house at 0330, drive 2 hours to IAD, park free in employee parking, commute on my own airline to SFO and head out to the crash pad because I had to leave myself options if I didn't make it on the first choice of flights. Total time door-to-door: 11 hours.

When I finish the trip I'm on now, I'll get in too late to catch a red eye home. I'll head to the crash pad and get a few hours sleep, take the first flight out at 0700 and I'll make it home around 1900 due to the 3 hour time change and traffic in the Washington area -- all on my first day off.

I can't tell you how much I wish I had a 3 hour drive to JFK now.