Lol, I knew he was from Minnesota! I bet you took the job at Pinnacle too. Well let me set it straight for you buddy. I'm from Minnesota too, but I went with Expressjet with a bunch of other smart ones from UND. Some of my other buddies have been with Pinnacle for over a year and their QOL is not near what ours is at XJT, and I've only been flying for 2 months. Never to late for you to switch.

You do realize that it was 20 degrees F this morning. I can't wait until I can get out of here for thanksgiving and get back to LA. As for you commuting to DTW or MEM from MSP, I do LAX-EWR which is a hella lot longer. Grow some balls man, you did go to the cold tundra called UND didn't ya?

 

Is that you GILLY????

 

Commuting on reserve for me at XJT wasn't too bad. Utilized the aggressive pickup window to get trips, back when there actually WAS open time. Made sure to get the commutable stuff, and learned how to sleep in a 737 jump seat without snoring. Did this for SFO to CLE, EWR and IAH... get's old after a while, but before you know it- you're off reserve and enjoying the privileges of being a lineholder.

 

dam....a whole month of reserve.....

 

FlyingSouix,

First of all, six months is a very short amount of time so I'd say just wait for MSP to open up.

I can understand wanting to live in a specific location if your spouse has a job there, but you won't be at your regional forever, and last I checked only one Major is based out of MSP so eventually you will either have to move or commute. Why not move to where you are domiciled and stay for a few years. If you can't get into MSP to fly reserves now, it'll probably be a very long time before you can hold a decent line or upgrade. Perhaps you need to re-evaluate your priorities and see if living in MSP really comes out on top. Have a sense of adventure in your young years and settle down later.

By the way, if you haven't yet realized this, pilot are gypsies so you better get used to the lifestyle. We just dress nicer and our trailer taking us from gig to gig is a jumpseat.

 

nope, is there another one of us that has made the trek out to the warmer weather in SoCal?

 

How close are you to holding a line in DTW? The ability to trade trips and make a better schedule will help improve your QOL greatly until you can transfer to MSP. Commuting to reserve really sucks.

P.S. You won't get much sympathy about your month of reserve with one more on the way. I would guess that most on here sat reserve much longer than two months.

 

Nothing is "guaranteed" unless it's in the contract. And even then, it's sometimes questionable.

Suck it up. You'll be able to hold a line in DTW shortly, in six months you can be in MSP. PCL may not have the best QOL, but a year from now, you'll be living in base, probably holding a line. Why go somewhere else just to commute?

That said, job hopping, even this early in your tenure, will NOT reflect badly on you. Lots of pilots do it. Ask former FOs from Piedmont, PSA, Mesa, and for that matter, PCL.

 

Don't make a lateral. Yes your situation sucks a little. I'm a commuter myself. Just stick with it. The second you either get your home base or get a line everything will change for the better.

 

First, welcome to the airline world. You've been lied to by the company. Get use to it, it won't be the first or last time in your career. Second, sitting reserve, working weekends and holidays, and crappy trips as a new hire is called paying your dues. So suck it up, it's only been a month. Making a lateral move is foolish unless things won't get better for a long time. You need to look at the bigger picture because it will probably be years till you get your shot at a major. Life gets better with seniority, be patient.