HELLAS

Hello, Im trying to estimate how much money will I have to spend if I start commuting.
For the people that commute, how much money do you spend a month on crashpads/hotels, uber/taxi, eating outside etc.
Thanks!

ClownDown

Factor in time away too.

Supercubbin

Need to know what your commute is. Living in a small city with 20+ flights a day to base that you could also drive is a lot different than a transcon where at least one side of your trip usually isn’t commutable. The former isn’t so bad, but the latter is almost never worth it.

That said, when I was commuting to NYC, I spent a few hundred a month on hotels and Uber, and A LOT of extra time away from home. My company covered my surface transportation between airports so that was nice.

I still commute and probably will for a long time, but there’s a flight every 30 minutes during peak travel times. There are very few trips in the bid pack that aren’t front and back end commutable for me. It’s less than a one hour flight, and I can drive if I wanted to. I don’t spend any extra money on it, just a little extra time, which to me is worth it since it means my wife kids can live close to family and tight knit community.

I’ve flown with a lot of people that have more challenging commutes that require 3-4 hotel
rooms a month and a couple Uber or taxi rides. I couldn’t handle it, but everyone’s situation is different.

Cleared4appch

Unfortunately there is no straight answer to this question. So many variables here. Depends on the city in question you’re commuting to. If it’s LA or NYC, that’s likely gonna be more expensive with food, hotels, crashpads, transportation costs, etc than say ATL, DFW, or CLT for example. Depends on how often your carrier will have you flying on reserve as well. If they give you lots of flying on reserve, that’s less money out of your pocket for hotels, assuming you don’t do crashpads. Crashpads are usually cheaper than hotels in many cases, however in opinion as well as personal experience dealing with crashpads, you will lose a good bit of sleep staying in a pad with other people in a community living environment. If you do hotels, some cities can get you a pretty good deal of a discount with your crew rate. Other cities it may be much more pricey even with a crew rate. Does the hotel in question have a shuttle? If so that’s less money you’ll spend. If it doesn’t, and many hotels in NYC area still aren’t doing shuttles since ‘Covid,’ then you will have to figure out how you are going to get to and from the airport.

Also, research the airport you will be commuting out of to get to base. Do they offer airline crew discounts for parking? Many don’t from my experience, though some do which can be nice. You can also look into parking at the local FBO’s parking lot, but make sure you ask them though. Some will let you and they may offer to drive you over to the terminal to drop you off free of charge in their crew van. Some FBO’s don’t do this and some even hate airline pilots asking if they can park there, I’ve had that experience. Even better than all this, can your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend/family member/friend drop you off/pick you up? That will depend on people’s schedules with their daily work lives and other things going on. Something to think about. I unfortunately have to drive myself to the airport and park in the long term parking and pay up what the daily rate is. They do not offer any discounts either. But pilots are also making more starting wages these days so to me it’s worth it.

The cost of food can vary greatly as well. Many pilots pack their own food, but it’s often not enough though to get you through a 4 day. It’s usually good enough to get you by when airport food lines are backed the heck up or if you’ve been delayed or other issues come up, and there’s not enough time to go order something in the airport. Packing your own stuff will save you some money and time when dealing with long lines. Often times when I commute back home all my food has been eaten at this point and I’m usually starving when my flight lands, so I need to grab another bite to eat either in the airport terminal or on the drive home. So those will add up. However your per diem will make up for that.

As you can see, it really varies significantly in terms of how much you will spend as a commuter. I’m at a regional, and my carrier reimburses pilots up to certain amount on hotel costs each month, which is nice! Majors aren’t doing that though. With my crew rate, I stay at a few decent places at my base that offer good rates. They all have shuttles, and free breakfast which is another plus. As a lineholder I only need to fork out money for about 4 hotel stays a month. I only end up paying like 20-30 bucks on hotels once they reimburse me the following month. Once I move to the majors, I will no longer have that perk lol. When I was on reserve OTOH, since I was flying very little, I spent upwards of $900 dollars on hotels. My wife doesn’t work, and I was able to do this comfortably with good budgeting and spending habits. The ones who tell you it can’t aren’t living within their means. It can definitely work, and it’s definitely doable, especially knowing that reserve is of short duration.

You’re definitely going to be spending some money as a commuter, there’s no doubt there. Some months you will spend more than others, but don’t let any of this discourage you. Despite the fact that I spend way more than a pilot who lives in base each month, I still don’t mind commuting. It gives me the freedom to live wherever I want and I don’t have to uproot my wife and kids. This also depends on your commute though. Some commutes are tough, some are easy. Mine is pretty easy.

togaflaps

I commuted for about 3.25 years. Between the first two cities I had a crash pad as I was on reserve which was cheap at like 200 a month with a cold bed and shared with only 1 other person. Between the next two cities I never had a crash pad and never bought a hotel. I spent one night in a crew room after getting in at like midnight and caught a 520 am flight home. both cities had almost hourly or more than hourly service between them. The second two had almost a flight every 30 minutes on most airlines and was less than 45 minutes of flight time most days. The first city pair was about 1.25 hours so slightly longer. Still added up in terms of time away, especially when big delays started happening. I missed out on my fair share of premium too which hurt.

symbian simian

The only correct answer.

The hotels, taxis, crashpads are peanuts compared to TAFB VS TAFH(ome).

I have a less than 2 hour commute flight, about 15-20 flights per day, very relaxed commute policy. Still takes me about an extra 10 hours per trip to commute compared to living in base. I do 4 trips per month, so over 40 per year (vacation & sick). So about an extra 400 hours away from home for the same credit. Pretty much industry standard to get 1 hour of pay for every 3.5 hours TAFB. So I’m crediting at the very least 100 hours less to be gone the same amount of time every year. Any major year 2 pay will make that at least $15K, and for me it’s easily over $30K.
And that is for one of the easiest commutes in the system, working only both end commutable trips. Easily double for long/2leg/uncommutable.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I did the math before I moved, and it’s totally worth it to me. But the lost income is a $#!t ton more than any other cost.

flyboy043

I spend roughly $1000 per month give or take a few 100. Easy commute from southeast to NYC. Crashpad for 350 food is usually another 400 and then ubering around to and from the pad usually gets me last few hundred. Also commuting to reserve. It was about 3-400 less when I was a line holder.

MoonShot

Commuting costs way more in lost opportunities than it does with hotels etc…

Lost time opportunities (QOL), lost overtime opportunities (serious $), etc…

I honestly think I could have easily made $100k more over the last year by living in base. This would have been without a substantial hit to QOL. A tough commute eliminates the ability to get last minute premium trips and increases the bar for which you are willing to deal with the hassle of coming to work (I’m not coming in for a 1-2 day premium trip).

hercretired

not mentioned, or not seen by me anyway, is "cost to your body." I saw this instead of "cost to yourself" because I am not talking time, money, etc.

I am talking fatigue, stress, airport food, etc.

if at all possible, drive to work. the differences between the Big-3 and purple/brown cargo are all wiped away if you can drive to work to one of them.

JulesWinfield

I spent $800/mo on a private room in NYC. $20 Uber to/from JFK, $40 to/from LGA and $150 to/from EWR. I didn’t factor in food costs, because I would have eaten at home and spent that money. It was about $1000-$1200 per month.