AA:

Vast majority of the Jax area AA pilots I’ve met commute to CLT. Short flight, all mainline Airbii (two jumpseats, both reservable 8 days prior). MIA is usually only one or none mainline 737s (one jumpseat), rest RJs (can’t reserve). The 3.5 hour (St Augustine to PBI) to 5.5 hour (Jax Beach to MIA) drive is just too far for most but I suppose could be done in a pinch.

DFW appears to be all mainline but a mix of 737 and bus. PHL all mainline bus, but fewer flights. DCA could also be an option.

I’d say driving to work at MCO would be the winner, but it’s silly senior at SW (16+ year SW pilot just left for AA, he was that frustrated). Perhaps UAL is the answer, but how senior will CA go there and will it be 737 forever?

Driving to work at MCO is the clear winner here but the OP will be a narrow body FO for quite some time, but that is just part of living in central Florida. Holding the left seat at any airline with a MCO base (or FL in general) is always going to be incredibly senior, NK being the exception but since we're being bought by JetBlue that won't be the case for anyone hired today.

AA 737/320 MIA CA is in the 4ish years timeframe, and should drop significantly going forward, but that’s not exactly a central Florida base. The TPA and MCO-MIA jumpseats are almost always occupied, has to be one of the toughest commutes at AA.

100% drive to MCO. I’d go with UA, WN, B6/NK

Just to add, there are also 2-3 SWA JAX-ATL flights daily and 3 JB JAX-JFK and a few each on SWA, AA, and as a last resort, UA to NYC base.

At Delta, you can do reserve from home at JAX with the 18hr callout and if you get assigned SC, you get paid an hour to commute to ATL and back. (SC period is 9hrs but you can be in transit first two hours and be released last two hours early).

Also, your first day on a block of reserve days, you can't be assigned a report time till after 10am, so no going up a day early.

First flt to ATL is usually 5:15am and last flight from ATL to JAX is at least 10:30pm and sometimes a 11:30pm one as well. Makes about 90%+ of the trips in ATL commutable from JAX. Less so on NYC NB, but almost 100% commutable to WB trips.

Many will do Delta ATL as NB FO for awhile and then do NYC WB FO for a change of pace for a few years, then perhaps return to ATL as WB FO and/or CA job.

There has been a hiring wave though.

Lastly, at Delta, you can also reserve the flight deck JS 5days out to work and sit in any unused FA JS's (presently that's either 3 or 4 JS's per flight from JAX-ATL on the 757's depending on whether it's a two or one flight deck JS variant.

Will say though with the 2yrs of positive space commuting that ended in November, there have been an explosion of new commuters than compared to pre-covid levels, but over time should moderate again.

If going to a legacy is import, widebody, etc then just go to the first that offers a cjo. I think United makes the most sense though. BUT if you’re looking for best qol I’d look strongly at F9. MCO is attainable fairly quickly in both seats. Upgrade will settle in around 3 years, maybe less. Your seniority will grow the most overall and quickest here. Crews here are amazing, management and some other parts are awful. That’s probably not going to change. I’d at least do your due diligence on f9 though.

I would do a 2 hour drive to work versus a career of commuting by air, even if it is an hour block time with 10 flights a day all with 2 jump seats. All of the time spent worrying and planning your commute is unpaid and stressful. Add in the increased difficulty to augment your pay via premium or whatever your airline has would be a no-go for me. Living within a reasonable drive of your base opens so many doors.

MCO hasn't opened yet for UAL. It is scheduled to open in May. Junior on the FO side, senior for CA. There is talk of having TPA as a co-base. If that happens, it will supposedly double the size of the base. FO would probably be available to new hires, CA seniority would also come down significantly. It will be strictly 737 for the foreseeable future.

I just can't stress this point enough. You will have people that tell you they did it their entire career and it's fine, but I honestly think that is just a form of Stockholm syndrome. I did it for seven years, commuting by air and I said the same thing to myself until I realized how much better my life would be not having to do it. Now that I drive to work and dont think about checking loads, report times, commuter policies, JS availability, weather, events, hotels, proper rest due to commute, missing an event at home because I can't make it back in time etc my life is exponentially better.

This doesn't even include all the extra money you could make picking up turns if you can be within a reasonable drive to the airport. Like I said in my last post, if you are hard stuck on living in that part of Florida, seriously consider all options available at MCO. If you MUST work for a legacy, I would hold out for UA for the base there or I would move.

Drive > Fly. UA MCO