I spent 0 nights last year in a crashpad or hotel as a commuter. I usually leave my house 5 hours prior to showtime and usually get back 4 hours after block-in though. The guy that lives in base probably leaves his house an hour prior to report and gets home an hour after block-in. That's a 7 hours extra away from home for me for every single trip. 28 hours per month or about 2 1/2 full days spent commuting per month. That's over 4 weeks per year at home I lose to commuting and I have a very easy commute. It doesn't get much better than what I have for commuting.

 

Pickle
First I'm gonna have to steal the crumb grabbers phrase. Awesome.

To everyone that's contributed thanks for the insight it's a lot to consider and I'm just happy to be done with a 2 leg commute to a one leg/long drive.

It seems like if you are on an international category commuting is easier.

 

Yes. If you can hold trips with afternoon sign in and release times, the commute is better. Another option is bidding longer trips. Some of the international categories will have 6+ day trips, which cuts down on the number of commutes. It can cut down on your number of nights at home though. A six day trip, means five nights away and one commute. Two three day trips would equal two commutes but only four nights away, so there is a trade off.

 

Wow. This thread is making me reconsider even going on my upcoming Delta interview. Right now I live in Tampa and fly for Southwest. I can hold MCO and drive to work, but choose to bid HOU for a better schedule. However, the commute to HOU is a piece of cake and totally stress free.

Leaving Tampa is not an option so I'm trying to determine if the better pay, retirement, and seniority at Delta is worth the quality of life I will have to give up leaving Southwest and commuting to ATL or NYC for the next 34 years of my life.

Thoughts???

 

A lot of the airlines is quality of life. A drive to MCO or easy commute to Houston is worth a lot. If you want to go wide body someday then think about the legacies. That said Delta seems to be getting away from that by outsourcing to third party subsidaries. Both airlines are in contract negotiations and hopefully both get significantly better rates and qol improvements.
Long story short take a long look at your situation and make sure that the grass really is greener.

 

go. then make the decision when there is one put in front of you.

not living in a delta base will significantly skew the career earnings number. all 'time' considerations discussed here....i would think apply no matter what company is involved.

the delta earnings premium comes from being able to use income multipliers....gs, rolling thunder, etc...and when those dry up...bidding jr. on a higher paying seat.

all highly complicated by commuting. maybe even prohibited.

in the best case.....commuting sucks. it sucks when you are 30.....and it will kill you at 60.

and commuting for 30 years? id sooner shoot myself.

 

To be honest I really don't care about flying a wide-body again. After getting out of the AF I flew MD-11's for 8 months and saw 35 countries doing it. It was a lot of fun, but eventually the novelty of it wore off and it was just another job that took me away from my family.

Time at home, pay, and retirement are really the only things that matter anymore so I'm beginning to think I may be better off staying at Southwest. We are pretty sure FLL is going to open as one of our next bases which should help the seniority in MCO.

If we could just get a B-Fund at Southwest! I flew with a guy who helps manage our current 401k and he showed me the math for a 31 year old guy starting at Southwest vs Delta today and the difference is staggering. It's a couple million!

However, what good is 5 million vs 3 million in retirement if you spent the last 30+ years of your life sacrificing quality of life. Plus who knows how long you will live anyways.

 

The ability to drive to work is worth it's wait in gold, I moved from Pensacola where my family loved to spend more time ultimately at home. Airlines leapfrog each other in pay rates and hopefully we all get a me too clause like United. Think about it long and hard before you turm down the interview.

 

That has been the great thing about Southwest so far. TPA has so much SW traffic that I see a lot of 1 day trips out of TPA in open time. I consistently pickup trips that start in TPA and have me home that night for dinner. So I feel I may have better earning potential at SW even though the pay rates will probably always be less and no opportunity for wide-body pay.

 

undoubtedly you have seen the the pay discussions here.

hourly rate isnt the most telling when it comes to the number on the w2. ask one of your delta bubbas to show you the atl 73nA list. and count how many could be 777A's.....but arent.

there are good reasons why.

of course this is the airline business....so every 5-6 years plan on your life getting turned upside down...