I've heard a great deal of the LAX trips include red-eyes which I'm not much of a fan of. Are the trips out of FLL or JFK significantly better that it would make sense to commute from LA to be based there (I realize this is subjective)? How often can you score Mint while commuting?

 

Isn't there a large junior base in LAX for UAL and DL? That's what I'd bid.

 

I don’t know if you will like this answer, but I’m trying to be as honest as possible…..

if you are living in LA, given the current market conditions for pilots, I’d look elsewhere. There are many great options for being based on the west coast and we aren’t one of them. DL,AA,UA,Spirit & Alaska would all probably yield you better results… especially if you don’t like redeyes.

to answer your question more directly. Yes, it’s possible to commute from LA to JFK. And yes, you will occasionally get mint. That said, you mention your dislike of redeyes, and if you commute from LA-JFK the vast majority of your commute flights will be redeyes.

TL;DR- yes, it’s possible. But not recommended.

 

Thanks for the honest response. I know wherever I go, I won't be able to escape red eyes as a Jr FO. I was also looking down the line if Hawaii flying starts, and who knows what will change if/when a B6/NK merger happens.

Does the B6 LAX flying typically start with a red eye to the east coast and then go up and down the east coast and Caribbean for a day or 2, or do you sleep all day then bring another ship back to the west coast?

I appreciate your candor and insight.

 

Not entirely true. Come here and bid JetBlue regional (E190, A220).

I don’t have positive confirmation but I doubt the A220 at Delta does many red eyes either. You’ll have to check with someone at DL though.

 

I believe they're BOS only, correct?

 

I'm going to assume you're new/ going to be new and are trying to do some planning?
Wouldn't you be on reserve on both coasts? Why would you commute to JFK for "better" trips? If you're in JFK on reserve you'll just get the 5-day trips that have two red-eyes (assuming you get the 320).
If you'll be driving to LAX, why not take the chance that you don't get called on RSV and enjoy that day "off"?

This is more of a year 3 question. Still RSV in LAX or line-holding in JFK? I would still do RSV where you can drive to.

If you're gonna do the commute:
JFK has as higher frequency of flights, BUT it seems to me that our friends at AA fill up those MINT seats far too often. I'd choose FLL or even BOS.
Do you really want to worry about the WX on the East Coast on your days off? You'll be monitoring the Weather Channel even more just to know if you should go on an earlier flight.
No Thanks.
BTW, you'll get tired of the Mint food on your commute too.
Good luck.

 

A220 bose190 bos, jfk

 

LAX is a decent size base with more growth plans (Spirit merger could really grow the base too as they have a bunch of gates there, but no pilot domicile, also Vegas is junior for them), so departures run all day with many red eyes each night. As a junior line holder red eyes are what you are going to start your trip with. There are some day locals to Vegas and San Fran. Many two days that are two trans cons or a random Cancun. Longer trips have some variation, but a four-day may look a lot like LAX-JFK, then JFK-Caribbean, then Caribbean- JFK, then home.
My reserve experience has been pretty great. Work half the days (17 on SCR) or less (four with one night gone in November) and when you work it is a mix of day and night flying. You are also the rescue squad for an East coast airline, so there is a lot of fly day one, then deadhead home day two. Sometimes you can self deadhead home that day, which give you the next day off free and clear. Being in driving rang for SCR improves my QOL greatly.

 

There have been plans for west coast “growth” since the LGB days… It has yet to materialize. My experience at B6 was great as far as the Captains I flew with, but the trips were absolutely atrocious (and I drove to work).