I am an older pilot transitioning from corporate to 121 regionals-plenty of jet time, ATP, etc. From being a long time reader of this site over several plus years, I know that the top factors some use in choosing a 121 are a combination of the following: QOL, pay, equipment flown and upgrade times. As to me (and I understand this is unusual), I am looking for advice/info as it relates to only one factor: I will have to commute from MSY or GPT to either DFW, IAH or DEN for pilot domicile depending on the employer. Please note that no other factors are important to me at this time-only just information for which one of those three domiciles would be the easiest commute on a weekly basis from MSY or GPT. There is no option for me to change my primary Gulf Coast residence, and I fully understand sitting reserve, crash pads, days off lost to commuting, etc. Thanks.

 

DFW or IAH would be equally viable. There should be a number of flight on United and American to Houston or Dallas respectively. In addition, coming out of MSY you have Southwest to fly direct to Houston Hobby or Dallas Love Field. While SW takes you to a different airport, ground transportation should be easy. DEN would be more difficult to a greater distance, but certainly not insurmountable. There are thousands of regional pilots with much more difficult commutes.

 

SWA almost certainly does non-stops MSY-DEN, UAL for sure, and probably F9.

First step would be to look up flights using one of the nonrev flight search websites. Those will give you all flights between city pairs, and you're especially interested in NONSTOP flights...more than one leg is recipe for commuter hell. Not the end of the world if you have to do an occasional two-legger, but not something to make a habit of.

Important to consider that you'll have higher nonrev/JS priority on the major partner which your regional flies for, so ideally you'll want to work for a major/regional team with nonstop flights. Even better if the flights are normally operated by the regional in question (although that can change suddenly, as mainline shuffles their regional flying around). SWA is always a good backup. IMO, the length of the flight doesn't really matter between 1-4 hours, most of the time spent is getting to the airport, waiting to go, dead time at the destination, plus leaving some number of hours for a backup flight. Four hours or more and the JS starts to suck.

Once you've identified a regional and a base that looks good, go to the forums for that regional and ask about commuting on that specific route. The people who fly the routes will know best about loads, JS competition, and possible W&B issues which can restrict JS use on some RJs.

Good news is that MSY/GPT are not premium pilot lifestyle locations so there should not be as much jumpseat competition compared to some other places.

 

Thank you for the advice.