ALASKA in base vs UNITED commuting
 

ALASKA living in Seattle VS UNITED SFO based living in Seattle
This is “hypothetical” of course….I’m trying to get some input on which of these course of actions you guys and gals would suggest and why. I have about 25 years left to fly and plan on staying in Seattle.
-Both are great gigs. Most people emphasize living in base over all other aspects.
-There are about 25 flights a day between SEA and SFO.
-Currently no scope protection at Alaska.
-Wide body opportunities at UAL.
-Future mergers possible at Alaska could have an impact.
-Work rules differences?
-Upgrade time likely to be similar ~6 years?
-Proportionally, it looks like more retirements at UAL in the coming years vs more growth at Alaska (trying to go from 2900 pilots to 4000 in 3 years).
-UAL pays more but you could potentially make up for that living in base with Alaska.
I’m not trying to turn this into a ****ing match. Just looking for input between living in base with Alaska vs commuting to San Fran with UAL from Seattle. Thank you in advance.

What up Big Perm.
I’m an Alaska pilot with 3 years in and I have my app in at UAL. I think your 25 years would be better spent at UAL. I wish they would call me. Alaska is a great job but I’m confident UAL is better even commuting.

If you're senior to me you should definitely leave for United. :D

I believe that even with commuting to SFO you will have more days home at UAL. UAL you can trade, bid, and manipulate your schedule to give yourself commutable trips. You will gain seniority at a much faster rate at UAL, and as you mentioned the opportunity for widebody flying and more pay.

SFO is a relatively junior base, and my buddy who has been at UAL 3 years can hold SFO 777 or 787.

What about Delta, you could end up based in SEA with them. With that said if you have offers from both Alaska and United then I would personally commute to SFO for United. United is a real airline that flys globally, Alaska is a small Pacific Northwest airline. You could get on with United and still apply to Delta.

It's not a clear-cut decision, because I know that living in base makes the job completely different than commuting. Also, commuting into and out of SFO can sometimes be a mess when the weather rolls in, and I suspect that SEA can be the same. Obviously the best of both worlds for you would be DAL, but you hit all the high points for jumping over to UAL. I'm not as optimistic that you'd be home more often at UAL because of the commute, but without a doubt they have much more scheduling flexibility there. A close friend was hired in early 2016 and was 737 SFO for a while. Over the past holidays, he was able to drop/trade/whatever on his schedule to have all of the holidays off and drop well below monthly min guarantee. I'm from the VX side but I can imagine that that sort of stuff is not gonna happen here at AS any time soon.

Commute for United, even if you have to go to Newark.

Everyone’s wants, needs, family situation...etc is different so do what’s best for you.

Personally I would not commute for a career; I would pick which company I prefered and then relocate to one of their bases.

Commuting suuuuuucks, and I only do it once a month most months. I also know a SFO-based UAL pilot who lives in the Seattle area. He did the math on how much of his life he spends commuting, and the result was pretty depressing.

That said, I’d rather you go to UAL.

Delta. Be based at home and fly widebody’s your first year. Why commute to UAL?


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