Hi Guys,

I am considering employment opportunities with both Expressjet and Compass Airlines very soon. My situation is that my wife and kids must remain in Boca Raton, FL, and I would therefore have to commute to MSP, DTW(for Compass) or EWR, ORD, CLE or IAH(for Expressjet). Does anyone know which of those domiciles are the junior ones for new-hires these days for either airline?

Can anyone share their advice/experiences with the following:

1.) Quality of life, average days off per week if commuting into and out of Florida to those domiciles as a new-hire.
2.) Which airports in FL, while living in Boca Raton and cannot relocate due to my family, would give me the best options for commutes into and out of Florida with low seniority? For example: MIA, FLL, PBI, or MCO.
3.) Would it be absolutely necessary to get a crashpad/hotel, or can one smartly commute out of Florida to arrive within a couple hours before report time for early starts?

Thanks guys..

 

Pretty sure you're gonna get the same answers here as on JC. Move to wherever your base is, (if possible), or be prepared for life to absolutely suck.

 

Florida is a really tough commute. Plan for at least two legs and lots of time on the jumpseat. Remember, once you pick the airport to commute out of, that's the one you need to get back in to if your car is there. Get real familiar with UPS and FedEx, those will be your "ace-in-the-hole."

 

Rsv. Florida. Those(any) bases suck to commute out of to florida. It seems like every dl pilot lives in MCO. There's not a lot of late flights to Florida, and the late flights that are there, have a lot of commuters. Once a line holder and can hold late report early release then youll be ok. That should only take 5 yrs or so! For now though plan on leaving mid day the day before and getii.g to Florida around 10am the day after rsv finishes. Of course you will have good days where the stars align but not many.

 

Newark is junior for express and probably the easiest to get to from FL. You can also, fly into JFK and take the state shuttle from JFK-EWR cost is $15 and takes roughly 40mins. That alone gives you a second option of airport to fly in/out of. Good luck.

 

This. Reserve in base is like a whole different job.

 

Commuting from Florida?

 

cant hurt as bad as working for PNCL

 

For ExpressJet, you'll hold EWR or ORD right off the bat, then maybe CLE and then IAH. All the bases are not out of reach.

If I had to pick one for you, I'd go with ORD since it has the most options. CLE is strange with their Florida flights (Goes back and forth from an RJ to a 737, then seasonal), IAH and EWR have a LOT of old timers with high seniority commute out of there. One FA I flew with commuted out of FLL and said it was a nightmare, MCO is a high tourist destination (as you know), so people will magically appear on the standby list at the last minute. PBI doesn't have that many options.

ORD to MIA would probably be your best bet, but it would more than likely be very difficult.

Get familiar with:
passrider dot com
Trains/Buses back and forth between ORD and MDW
SWA flights out of MDW
FedEx/UPS jumpseat websites
Program all jumpseat phone numbers in your phone
Add all airline apps (to update flight status)
Learn about the commuter clause in the contract
Carry the FIL of the latest jumpseat hierarchy

Also, carry a bible and some holy water - You'll be doing a lot of praying! Best of luck!

 

A New York base is probably your best bet. I would probably go out of FLL. There are a ton of flights to all 3 NYC airports. Good luck. The flights out of south Florida and MCO are always full. The jumpseat is your friend, but there are a lot of mainline jumpseaters who will take it from you.