The commute to ATL will be decent from either airport. Commute to IAD would be a horrific two legger

 

i am not a commuter so i can only give a tiny bit of info for you to consider....

ILM has a handful of commuters from expressjet, delta, and airtran going to atl. Not as "easy" as you may think, but in no way is it a ft. walton situation...

IAD you at least have a two options. You can go to IAD or DCA....which is a HUGE advantage.....

But yes...i would avoid a two leg commute whenever possible....

 

In addition to what hendefea said, there is ground transportation between DCA and IAD. I thing Airporter is the name of the service. I don't know if there is a crew/airline discount available.

 

All the above info is good but i still maintain the position that commuting while on reserve is a living hell. I will never recommend it.

 

Just live in your freaking base. Use your travel benefits to go wherever you want in your down time.

 

I would love to live at base, but it's not in the cards right away....my wife and I have accepted commuter hell for the first year or so until we get at feel for the best long term plan. I live about 45 min from ILM and OAJ and 2.5 hours from RDU. If given a choice of ATL, IAD, or DTW, what would be the better of 3 evils to minimize the pain?

 

Is not that easy when your company shuffles bases and mainline shuffles airplanes around.

 

It is a tough spot. But given where you live...i would probably rule out dtw.

Something i have tried to keep in mind while working in this industry. As mentioned above...there is always going to be a chance that your domicle gets closed, we park airplanes, we buy airplanes, we acquire airplanes, economy goes down, economy goes up, mainline gives us another contract, mainline takes away a contract, ther is a terrorist attack, we furlough, we hire, they chane he age 65 rule, they change the ATP rule, etc....etc...etc....
YOU CAN NOT CONTROL EVERYTHING. Just make the best decision you can at that given moment and go with it. Make it work best for you and your wife. If you change bases or whatever.....deal with it then. The world isnt going to end. Life is too short to worry about "what if's".

But do what your doing and make the best informed decision and go from there.....

 

Since no one seems to just give you an answer: Atl

 

Atl is probably your best bet for commuting, especially since you will be on reserve anyway. Once you can hold a line in IAD, I would swap bases, if I were you. Don't do a 2 leg commute, especially to reserve.