Herkguy80

ANC-11 for bottom 3


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sierra9000

With it being such a big class, anyone have more than bottom 3? Perhaps bottom 10 spots?

Herkguy80

Next after that were 3x 757 MEM, then ANC-11, then MEM airbus, then Indy 76x2, then another MEM 757


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G550av8r

If you are awarded ANC out of class, what is the QOL like commuting up there, say from S. California? I'm assuming a crash pad and an airport car is a must. Would it be preferable to move to the base?

Thanks.

BluePAX

As far as commutability goes, no one truly knows what the lines will be like until the bid packs come out next month.

Atlas flies between LAX and ANC often, FedEx flies OAK-ANC every night, and UPS may have something, I'm not sure. Trying to jumpseat SEA-ANC can be hit or miss as you are competing against a lot of commuters. I ran into a UPS guy who buys his tickets to avoid the cattle call.

If you did choose to commute then you could get away without a car if you mostly go to/from your crashpad and can walk to the stores. An Uber isn't going to be over $15 for most places close to the airport.

DM me if you need more.

bruno999

Anyone know the age ranges of the last few classes. Any older guys getting hired?

Jma313

I know a 60 year who was hired in 2020. Age is not a deal breaker at all.

TransWorld

Thinking of posts in these forums. Pre-COVID had several age 60 to age 63. I perceive the cutoff is they wanted pilots to get out of training and spend a few months earning their keep before hitting 65.

Adlerdriver

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.

abides

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.