I did the ANC commute for 7 years and it was actually very good. In fact, I loved it compared to commuting on a 1.5 hour flight to MEM (if that gives you any perspective).

However, you need to be okay with bidding for a single departure line (i.e. one 12-14 day trip per month). It's also dependent on how easily you can access the flights to ANC. If you can get to IND, MEM or OAK in one flight on FedEx and connect to the purple flights to ANC it's just a long night once a month going up and another long day coming back. But the 777 bunk is unused on the flights to ANC and it's a great place to sleep on your commute. There may be other options on Atlas, Kalitta, etc. if you happen to be somewhere convenient to using those airlines who frequent ANC. If you're in the cities served by direct flights on Alaska, that's another easy option. With the travel bank available for deviations/commuting tickets, you can often buy your ticket to work and completely avoid the jumpseat roulette thrash in SEA with everyone trying to get to ANC. In addition, you may get a front-end DH trip which may be down to the lower-48 or even to Asia or Europe - so no need to even go to ANC at all that month. Just deviate and go to the first revenue city from your home airport.


The entire time I was there, I never needed a crashpad or car as a lineholder. A couple of local hotels provide on demand transport to and from the airport. The hotels are cheap in the off-season. You just deal with slightly higher rates in the summer, but you usually only need one night in the hotel a month. If you had to be on reserve, you might need a pad for a little while. But the nice thing is that reserve usually goes senior because the locals love to stay home and get paid.


The bottom line is, if your lifestyle allows working one big trip each month, the ANC commute is actually pretty great. I wouldn't shy away just because it sounds ugly without knowing all the details. Your seniority will likely be better on either aircraft in that base (MD-11 or 777) than if you're based in MEM.

 

I would also add to this, if you want to eventually hold LAX, go to the 11 in ANC (or anywhere) if possible. It will avoid a very lengthy wait for ITU.

 

Huh?
Lax is very senior. Doubt any new hire or anyone junior is going to get Lax for a long time.

 

Two bids ago, a 2017 hire was awarded LAX. It’s not as senior anymore. It’s certainly too heavy though.

 

It will be a while, but if/when awarded he wouldn’t have to wait a year for ITU for a new plane or be seat locked. I’m guessing we won’t have a bid until mid to late 2022 or 23. So if hired now you might be able to hold it then.

 

take a look at 20-02. Lax was only filled to 85%. There MAY be newhires bound for LAX in the coming year.

 

nope..........

 

what part are you disputing? The 85% part or the potential for backfill?

 

Was there a class last week? Anyone know the drops?

 

May be off by a number here and there, but this is what I see from the Training Letter:

ANC 77 - 4
ANC MD - 4
MEM 77 - 5
MEM MD - 2
MEM 76 - 3
MEM 30 - 4
MEM 57 - 5
IND 76 - 0
OAK 76 - 2