Difficult commute, especially for new hire. Yes many flights, but also senior SKW and XJT commuters, United commuters. It can easily get difficult given the track record of united.

That's my domestic sector on my commute and there are always lots of commuters at the gate....! I'm positive space so I can't tell you about the odds but for what I see every time, I would say that the recommendation of giving yourself a couple of options is smart

It is a rough commuting route, Republic has most of the flights now on the American side and some on the United side as well. If your Republic you can take the extra flight attendant JS if not they are full everyday with multiple jumpseaters waiting. This will probably improve in the near future as American gets some new 319s on the route.

Spirit does the the route 2-3 times a day depending on the season, I wind up on it quite a bit. While we're usually pretty full, I always have at least 2 or 3 seats open in the back.

We'll be back up to 3x daily this summer on ORD MSP.