Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

I would think that JFK would be a better option from south FL (many offline opportunities in addition to mainline).

As for DFW, I would be careful about going to MSP since it seems to vary from all rj to a few mainlines. I saw the other day that the -9 is doing a few MSP-DFW flights now. Not sure how it is to the other bases but I understand that there are a lot of commuters out of DFW.

Express pilot

08-19-2009 08:41 PM

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Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 665146)

So what is going to be the most commuter friendly base post SOC? Seniority takes you far, decent crashpads, lots of flights, not a whole heck of a lot of commuters like a DFW-ATL, etc?

I think too much emphasis is put on proximity when commuting, such as all of the DALN FL commuters will surely bid ATL, its closer. If you can't drive it within 3-5 hours then you're probably going to fly and at that point you won't care if its a 1.5 hour flight to ATL or 2.5 hour to NY/DTW. You want frequency, crashpads and you want commutability, i.e. you need a base where you max your seniority potential.

Just wondering, say you're a commuter from south FL, which way is best? ATL, JFK or DTW? What about DFW commuter? ATL, DTW, NYC, MEM or MSP? And so on...

For DFW I would add LAX to the mix, AA has about 10 flights a day with some redeye.

Superpilot92

08-19-2009 08:44 PM

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Originally Posted by 1234 (Post 665155)

The -9 is doing both DFW and IAH out of DTW again. The -9 is also going back to IAH out of MEM come next month. Continental is pulling out of skyteam oct 24th so i expect we will upgauge more than a few routes including the CAL hubs once we stop filtering our passengers through cal. we'll see.

Superpilot92

08-19-2009 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 665136)

But what about FedEx? Seems like that makes everything commuter friendly... albeit in a redeye kind of way.

MEM is a peice of cake to commute in and out of but it all depends on where you're commuting from. I have almost 10 flights a day to get to or from memphis. Fedex is icing on the cake if you're in a pinch. The airbus was very commutable out of MEM when i was on it and i was junior (both temp block and reserve). Also When we go to only 6 short call days a month it will only get easier for reserves. The DC9 is a little less commuter friendly because there are more out and backs and pop up save the day trips. The good thing with the airbus was that there was only like 3 out and backs on the bus out of memphis each day, everything else was an overnight somewhere. That allows you to really forecast what you may get.

Chente

08-19-2009 10:16 PM

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Originally Posted by 1234 (Post 665134)

There are 156 N pilots that live within 180 miles of JFK.

That's it?
I highly doubt that's going to make much of an impact for us Junior guys trying to get the hell out of the rat-hole known as NY. I cant stand that place, and having to cover all three airports.

Sink r8

08-20-2009 02:00 AM

NYC will definitely be attractive for those DAL N pilots within driving distance. Of course, it's hard to define a reasonable "driving distance" in New York... Five miles is probably about right.

As far as commuters that don't drive, one interesting element will be the closing of 13R, for up to two years. I actually heard of guys bidding West Coast on this last AE, who live in the middle of the country now, for this reason alone. I guess it doesn't matter how senior you are, if you can't actually get to sign in for the trip.

We'll see.

Sink r8

08-20-2009 02:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chente (Post 665189)

Yes, but it's our rathole. I don't mean it's a South rathole: just that it's a rathole that's perfectly well-suited for some of us with that particular combination of high-resistance to raindrops indoors, and who like to go "boyd-watching" indoors. Thankfully, our CP cares: he never wants us around the terminal without our hat on.

If the shocks in your car are shot already, and your bumpers are already damaged,
If your body is set up so that you can bypass public restrroms for a day,
If your idea of fine dining is Whopper with cheese,
If you had a particular affinity for dealing with troubled youth (so that you may 3work" with the "agents"),
If you liked Mumbai, but found it too clean; and too orderly...

Then New York is the place for you.

brakechatter

08-20-2009 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 665136)

But what about FedEx? Seems like that makes everything commuter friendly... albeit in a redeye kind of way.

Fed Ex and UPS were both hidden gems when I was commuting out of NYC. When trips ended at 9PM and I couldn't make my 2 legger home, they were there.

sailingfun

08-20-2009 03:41 AM

31L/13R at JFK will be closed for 120 days not years. Its going to be a mess during that period but its only 4 months.

FlyinPiker

08-20-2009 03:43 AM

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