AUS Commuters?
 

Heya folks,

ATL 7ERB at the moment with 3 months on property.
Moved to ATL to live in base, but the gf and I are interested in getting back to TX (TX natives) to settle down in the AUS area.
I have exp with commuting FL - NYC with regional carrier, but wanted to see if there was anyone actually doing the commute from AUS that could speak to it.
Either look’n at taking 1st available upgrade on 7ERA & stay’n in ATL for another 2 years or moving over to A350/330B in ATL or NYC where a commuter life may be easier…

Thank ya for any insight!!

With only 3 months here, I’d personally try to bail for UAL as soon as possible and drive (or have a very short flight) to IAH.

We have plenty of pilots who commute from all major cities in TX. It’s not impossible by any means. But your life will be much easier working for UA or AA.

If commuting from AUS add LAX 350 to the list. For domestic stick to ATL, the LAX trips aren't commutable.

Can’t really comment on the commute, other than to say AUS to NYC would be a bit tough. With previous experience, you may be comfortable commuting offline, but having online options (delta metal) with our commute policy should be a serious consideration.

But I think your optimism at getting an ATL ER A upgrade, or WB B is very likely to be a bit optimistic. We are about to slow hiring significantly from what it has been. We’ve been hiring a net of 3:1 over annual retirements, and that’s about to get close to 1:1. (i.e. 2000 pilots hired with 500 retirements is about to be ~1000 hired with 500 retirements). Seniority rise will feel glacial compared to what it has been. Not trying to rain on any parades, just encourage realistic planning, especially where spouse/gf are concerned.

I commuted AUS-NYC for 6 years. The main downside is just the length of the commute and it might be a stretch to sit 18HR LC from home. Also it’s outside of the LGA perimeter so your options are either JFK or EWR. Also for some reason the commute this month has switched to 737 which historically has been 320 for 5+ years.

Frequency has increased steadily over the years. Although getting in the same day for a 1300-1600 report on a compliant commute is dependent on an early JetBlue flight that comes and goes.

I *strongly* recommend moving to a place that makes SAT a viable option for a commute in a pinch. I used to live in a place that was basically 40 minutes to either airport and saved a commute home more than once. Also helps for PBS bid if you’re on a fleet that frequents both cities (220 or 320). If you stay ATL based this would especially help with something like 14 flights a day between AUS and SAT. I make this same argument for people who want to live in SAT. Many SAT commuters end up driving to AUS to commute.

I’m on the 220 currently and it’s the closest I’ve ever been to living in base. Depending on the month I can snag a trip or two that is a deviated DH to/from AUS or SAT and it added up big time last year. Back in the summer I had months I was gone 3-4 nights with a normal line.

Also there has been plenty of talk about our future in AUS. In April we (and 9E) will be flying BNA, CVG, LAS, MAF, MFE, MCO, and RDU. The airport overall is nearly as busy as SLC and it looks like the company wants to become a serious contender. The departure count will make it one of the largest non-hub stations in our system. Post-COVID we’ve grown AUS something like 40-50% but our numbers were dwarfed with AA and Southwest’s capacity/price war. My guess is we’re going to get another round of expansion before the summer.

Take that for what it’s worth. JetBlue had that rumor 15 years ago. Frontier came and went in like six months. American’s focus city came and will be almost totally gone by summer after two years. So who knows.

If you’ve been here 3 months, it could take 4-5 years before you can hold 7ERA.

Here are the awards from Jan:

Assuming you’re ~16,5XX

ATL 7ERA - 11,9XX
LAX 7ERA- No awards
NYC 7ERA- 12,2XX

Thats not going to be anytime soon based on current trends.

The junior 330/350 FO awarded in ATL was 8,XXX

Junior 330 FO awarded in NY is 14,5XX. I’d expect that to start trending more senior.

Not trying to urinate in your cheerios, but your expectations and timelines might be a bit off. You can’t look strictly at the seniority list, as many of the junior awards from last year were when a lot of seat locks were still active from the MOAB in 2021.

Either way, welcome and good luck with your decision.

As others have said, look at all basing options. I know January and February seemed to have a lot of SEA 73N layovers and there seem to be direct fights to all of our hubs from AUS. I wouldn't change airlines personally, but don't lock down to ATL either. No 7ER in SEA so you could equipment change at a year to go there if ER doesn't look like the best option.

Use the ALPA dashboard and see how many DL commuters there are from various bases to AUS.

I left United for Delta :/ a 3 hr drive to IAH from AUS or flying is the same as AUS-ATL or AUS-NYC in my book, I’d rather be at the place that’s ran better operationally/has more profits, plus IAH flying is awful.. all South/ America on the WB’s. Also, AUS is in the cards, but long term ATL & FL are still possible haven’t made a decision yet, but the UA bridge is burned for sure

How long were you at UA? You definitely won't hold captain OR widebody FO as fast here as you would there. Hopefully you're young. I think the Texas-LAX commute wouldn't be too bad honestly, flown with quite a few guys who do it.

hey there! Please correct me if I’m wrong but what I’m seeing on latest AE for junior postings is

ATL 350B at 14.5XX
ATL 330B at 11.2XX
NYC 330B at 15.6XX
ATL 7ERA at 13.2XX
NYC 7ERA at 13.8XX

Those are much more optimistic numbers coming straight from the latest JAN AE. Also; 1,000 pilots a year is still steep hiring historically for foreseeable future, with plenty of planned retirements along the way?

again no disrespect just wanna know where you got those #