I live at an out station and commute to ATL currently

Ah yea I saw you on the DTW FO award. I'm in ATL and gona do the ATL IAD commute. A line would be nice for the money...

ATL-IAD isn't easy either. AirTran pulled out, there are only 4 UAX flight/day and one or more usually cxl. Several DAL flights... summer/holidays are very full, the off-season might not be too bad, but there are already a lot of EV pilots commuting and there will be double that after this bid. 80% of pilots in IAD commute so a lot of the senior ones want the late starts, don't count on those. Also hotels in IAD are insanely expensive compared to ATL and DTW. (ATL-DTW commute is MUCH worse, but hotels are cheaper )

After hearing how hard it is to commute everywhere else I'm actually starting to think my ATL-EWR commute isn't that bad...

Wow. DTW FO just exploded last night. People! the commute will be insane! Don't do it!

That being said, I got a call from scheduling yesterday asking me if I wanted to work today. Yesterday was a soft day and so is today, followed by 3 days of GDO until Thursday. ***? it seemed like we have plenty of reserve coverage today in ATL 200 FO position

Yea. DTW isn't looking good anymore... I'm thinking a few more people are holding back as well. Reserve in ATL is way better than DTW. Atleast in ATL we have a big crew lounge. DTW crew lounge is just bad.

Speaking of which, I wonder if they are looking into getting a bigger lounge because of the increase in size of our DTW base. But then again, the bigger space would cost more... which probably means they are not looking into getting a bigger space for us.

ATL-IAD isn't that bad of a commute at all, even with Air Tran pulling out. Worst case scenario you go to DCA (which I've only done once due to a cancelled flight) and hop over to IAD via the metro and Washington flyer bus. $6-7, cheap stuff. Good deals on hotels can be had too. I'd say on average if I get a hotel, the price out the door is around $65 or so.

I really can't believe pilots (Regional FO's to be more specific) have gotten used to and have justified the sacrifice of commuting. Spending a whole day getting to work and back or doing the carpet dance when something occurs that is out of your control is hardly worth 20 bucks an hour. What a culture. Talk about living to work. I try to work so that I can live. Otherwise what is the point. I guess telling skeezy chicks at a bar that you are a regional aviator is still worth it .

To add to that point, I don't know why anyone would drive to the airport, park in the employee lot, get on the bus, pass by the crew room in ATL, where you would normally be dutying in, on their way to the gate to either DTW or IAD and play the wonderful game of how and the f@ck do I get to work today on my glorified buddy pass. Only to play that same exciting game 4 days later as you try to get home.
Didn't some 80's butt rock band have a song "don't know what you got til it's gone"? For all that are thinking about commuting when you already are living in ATL, listen to it. Unless you can hold top 20%, reserve in base kicks the crap out of commuting to a line.