I'd say Cincinnati is a safe bet for closure at some point.

OTOH, MSP has lost widebody flying and SLC is static. Neither have the biggest equipment and they are both senior, so careers in each of those domiciles will likely be not as lucrative as in others.

There's been tons of commentary on LA, I have no opinion on that base, I'm just not as familiar as the pilots affected.

DAL has a 4 corners strategy ATL, NYC, SEA and LAX?

DTW is robust because it is two hours closer to asia (great circle) than ATL.

 

CVG?????????

 

Agreed, CVG is the only base that might close at some point in the future and it might stick around since the company wants to keep training as low as possible with the hiring required.

 

ideally you would want to live in New York and you would be married to a super model with a house in the city or the Hamptons and a limo waiting to take you to the airport.

oh, and she would WANT you. that would be the best part right before the part about how you will forever be more senior and be on more premium equipment than any other base.

otherwise welcome to Atlanta with the other 4 or 5 thousand other pilots.

 

Scambo and Bohicagain,
Thanks for such a quick reply and thanks for the info. Coming from the AF I know I have tons to learn. Scambo, I think I have a good handle on what you mean about less stress and make more money, but I'm not sure what you mean by "get back a significant chunk of your life." Is this a reference to the commute time and maybe staying overnight when you can't get a flight home? Or, is there more to it? We need to make the decision to stay in San Antonio or make the move to ATL, so I'm trying to get as much commute vs. domicile info I can. Thanks again for the information. It is much appreciated.

 

If ATL is your base of preference, I think moving there is your best career move. I don't listen to my own advice.

Yes the significant chunk of your life lost is the commuting time.

There is something you don't really understand right now, but you will in six months. As a civilian, you are allowed to have fun, big fun. I don't mean mandatory fun watching Tops in Blue at the dining out, or attending some event. You will never be tagged to be the "airshow project officer." You've written your last OPR, EPR, Award/dec.

Set yourself up to have the most fun that you can. Free time is the biggest part of that.

 

I'll give you a real world example. Say you live in MCO and have a 4:50pm show on the MD88 in the ATL. You decide you want the 14:30 that lands at 16:04 to be your backup so you try to reserve the jumpseat on the 13:30 as soon as the window opens 5 days early. Taken. Try the 12:30, taken, try the 11:30, taken, try 10:20, taken... try 9:30. Got it.

Okay, it takes you 1 hour from your house to the gate, you want to be a few minutes early so you plan to be there by 8:30. So get up at 6:30 and leave your house at 7:30.

Meanwhile, the guy you're flying with lives in Peachtree City, he woke up at 9am...



Attended the weekly HOA meeting...



Then left the house at 4pm, singed in right on time [ignore the clock] and he's already thinking about his gate house PA...



Now, book your jumpseat going home. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat... and note that's if you can get lucky enough to hold a 4:50pm sign in. That's a good trip and will probably go senior.

It's not easy. It takes a lot of time. It's a personal choice, it's nobody else's business to tell you what to do. But if you could figure out a way to be happy on Long Island or Ann Arbor, you'd do well. Atlanta works very well, but your progression won't match that of a JFK/DTW guy. If you want the west coast... have you seen Hunger Games?

 

Then again, a few well-placed GSs throughout the year can make up for that.

I agree wholeheartedly with the notion of setting yourself up not to commute, if at all feasible.

 

Forgot to bid, that was hilarious...

In my view of flying the small jets in and out of Atlanta for a while, the only time that commuting sounded worth the hassle was when a jumpseater or buddy explains that their home town holds a solid network of support that they are tightly connected to. For example, I had a great dal guy from ROA onboard one day who explained that 3 generations of his family (likely to become 4 with 3 girls in college) all lived in the same neighborhood. When he leaves for work you could tell that his wife and children are all just fine and that he was at peace.

The only caveat to this is once a person is senior in category of course.

 

I wouldn't dismiss DTW as a place to live. There are a lot of very nice areas outside of town to live, like Ann Arbor, and the cost of living is very reasonable.

The guys who live in DTW clean up on the overtime. There are relatively fewer local guys, and so the overtime tends to go quite junior. In the long term, your progression will do quite well.

Nu