Looking for opinions and perspective on the best option for living in the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area.

Delta

ATL has ~10-12 flights per day from Jax. About the same number of flights split between JFK and LGA.

Pros: Great company, first to a new contract
Cons: Commuting to work, back side of hiring wave, most likely won't see wide body captain until end of career. Looking at widget seniority, it looks like NB captain wouldn't be great out of ATL either over the career based on those projections. Best bet would be commuting to NYC.

SW

MCO base within 1.5 to 2 hours driving distance. Senior base, could hold within a few months out of training, would have to commute to upgrade until senior enough to hold MCO as a captain.

Pros: Drive to work, financially stable
Cons: 737 forever and a senior base

AA

MIA has 4 flights and CLT has 6 flights per day

Pros: Rapid seniority progression compared to the others
Cons: Least financially stable company, commute to work

Obviously the pro and con lists are longer for each, but those are the main things that come to mind. Looking for any input!

 

Are you set on those 3?

Spirit and JetBlue both have Orlando bases.

Also if you are positive you are staying in that area I can only say to go to whichever has the easiest commute. A 1.5 hour drive is commutable in my opinion however having to commute by air the entirety of my career would be a no go for me.

 

Didn’t United open MCO as well?

 

Yep. Extremely junior on the FO side.

 

United and Southwest have MCO.

 

MCO at SWA is stupid senior in both seats. It’s our most senior captain base.

 

You got CJOs from all three?

 

Not as much on the FO side. People under 1 year are off reserve and into the blanks in MCO.

 

I didn’t realize the United base opened already. I’ve heard that’s going to go pretty senior similar to SW. That’s an option as well then.

 

Captains, yes. FOs, very junior.