Flights/Day and Commuting
 

Class starts in June at Expressjet, and I'm trying to figure out where to live for the first year at least, not necessarily for the rest of my life. 22, single, from upstate NY. I totally get that living in base is ideal, but hear me out... I started my current job at the end of February 2018, and was on the road 267 days. Keep in mind that's out of about 310 total days in the year that I worked at that company. So no matter where I live at the regionals, I'll be "home" a hell of a lot more than I was.

One of my best friends who is still in school offered me to sign on his lease for next year in Buffalo. Rent would be about 350 a month which is nice and cheap. I see that there are 7-8 flights a day between both BUF-ORD and BUF-EWR. Is that enough flights per day to make commuting (Expressjet) viable? Not that it matters, but I've lived between NY, Michigan, Alaska, and LA all since 2015 so you could say I'm used to moving around and really don't mind it.

7-8 flights should be plenty, especially since a few of them are on ExpressJet, so you’d have a higher priority for the jumpseat.

You’ll still probably want a crash pad in base, though. Around EWR, that’ll probably be around $250 per month.

If I were to be commuting from BUF, I would imagine a commute to EWR would work out a little better than ORD. Am I right or wrong? Either way, a combined $650 per month of rent seems pretty good

Quite possibly, because there’s no change in time zone and there’s a good chance EWR has a late night flight to BUF. Check passrider.com

The time zone change helps commuting westbound to ORD, however.

I'd imagine those flights change with the seasons too, but that is more flights than I had out of Florida to mainline hubs and I still made it.

In a pinch, you can go out of ROC, depending on what part of BUF you live in.

Also in a pinch, there are plenty of options to JFK/LGA if you can't get to EWR for some reason.

The shuttle to/from EWR is $30. Not bad.

Must be NY when $30 shuttle to go 10 miles is "not bad"

JFK or LGA-EWR is 35 miles, not 10 miles. You must not know much about NY.

lol, a droller per mile to take a bus is "not bad". Must be NY.

And that is a bad thing? NY is the trashiest city outside of India I know, garbage everywhere.

Living with friend(s) still in school will be a useful social network. I’d do it.

Everyone always defends commuting to a regional. Big mistake.

Not everyone can uproot a family for a regional. Selling a house, making a spouse give up their career and moving kids to a different school for a regional. Big mistake.

Everyone’s situation is different. For some commuting makes more sense and for others moving to base makes sense. That’s the beauty of this industry, you can live where you want.

So what's your suggestion? Sit on your a** as an FO just so you can be based at home? Turn down upgrading and valuable tpic time because you think commuting for a temporary period is too difficult? GMAFB!
It's aviation. Most do whatever they gotta do for the job and climbing the aviation ladder.

Don't forget that if you commute to base and you are on reserve, you'll be sitting in a crash pad instead of home for weeks a month (depending on how EXJ uses you). It makes a huuuge difference to sit at home vs in a crash pad or apartment away from home so much.

This. Commuting to reserve and just sitting for weeks in a crashpad with 12 other people was its own special hell. I never wanted to quit so bad. 3 weeks away from home with little to no privacy and flying maybe 10 hours a month for a year was terrible. Still I stuck through it and it got better with a line and seniority. When I upgraded and went back to the bottom, I just signed for an apartment with flexible leases. No more than 6 months at a time. Sitting reserve now is soooo much better.

When I was commuting to LAX on reserve I didn’t want to bring a vehicle, so I found a crash pad with a “crash pad car”. I ended up playing Uber Driver for everyone else all day everyday as we had 15 plus pilots sharing the car. That sucked

Dude is 22. Commute option is to sit in an apartment with a bunch of college buddies and a robust social network when off reserve. “Live at home” option is to be alone or with some randos in a crappy apartment in new city where he has zero connections and no time or money to make them. This isn’t the usual situation

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Like I said in the original post, it's only for the first year while I get my feet wet at the airlines. ZeroTT hit the nail on the head- I'd much rather suffer through some more while commuting where I'm going back to hang out with friends. My current job already brings me to cities where I don't know anyone for weeks at a time, and I'm definitely ready for a change.

Anyways, the main point of my original post was to see if that commute with 7 flights a day would be feasible, and it sounds like it is!

^^^ This. I'd move to wherever if I was 22 - 28 again, but not now with the wife/kids. Plus, if all goes well, another move a few years later would be in the cards if I make it up to a LCC/Legacy carrier. Commuting won't be fun, but it's in the cards for me unfortunately.

Crash pad car? New plan!

- Lease a car for $300/mo
- Place car near airport
- Rent each seat in car as cold bed for $200/mo
- $$$

My god you are a genius! Looking at used ‘02 Corollas as we speak.

Had a friend in high school. Had a used hearse like that. Rented it out the evenings he and his girlfriend were not using it.

In SoCal, you could probably get 400 a seat :D

Thats no joke. I actually seriously considered doing this with my van... I had several interested parties before I left LA.

Slightly creepy but ingenious. Was there a mattress or just a wood box?

Oh, I don’t know. Need to ask his ex-girlfriend. She is a psychologist specializing in family counseling. I am serious.