Easier commute Detroit or Orlando?
 

Any advice what would be easier to commute to?

I could live either place. The upside from a cartoon I saw re DTW is I could wash up in the fountain ;)

What is the website to check load factor? I thought I saw it in a post somewhere.

Thanks - Great flying.

A lot of commuters in MCO

Orlando is commuter suicide. Millions of nonrevs and always jumpseaters. ID90 will give you a rough idea. I used to check delta.com and use the ticket prices as a gauge before I had a travel net login. There is no way to see the exact loads unless you have travel benefits on that airline

Commuting to Florida?

You cray?

Florida isn't terrible in general, but orlando is a circus.

Where are you commuting out of?

MCO but Nowhere yet just sizing up options. Can live either place, guess which one I'd prefer?

I agree that Orlando is a tough gig, especially in the summer, but you also have the jumpseat option, cargo, and I think at least allegient flies out of SFB. I know at least one guy who made it work for his regional job and did just fine.

I commuted out of Orlando in January and February. As a junior person, it is worse than sucky. Twice I did not get home when I should have, with multiple backups. Three times I used HOU and Southwest either to/from work in order to have a chance at getting home or to work. And on my very last commute home, I could only catch a flight to RSW, rent a car to get to Orlando and pick up my car, and then continue to drive another hour and a half home. My experience commuting from there was terrible. The guys I ran into who had some seniority and commuted from there did not seem to have as much difficulty.

I commute out of Orlando and it can be easy if creative and a complete nightmare at the drop of a hat. I commuted to Fresno for 2 years and it was easier than to IAH. The good thing about commuting out of mco is that everyone flies here from every base with pretty good frequency. The bad is the weather is great and everyone wants to fly here for vacations. This causes the nightmares when weather happens in Orlando or winter weather hits up north sending ripples and rolling standby lists on all flights.

In my experience the farther the commute the easier. The closer the base, the harder it gets. It's a hard commute but being creative on a 2 leg commute can save you instead of pulling hairs and stressing out being number 30 and 4 jumpseaters ahead of you on the list.

The commute from MCO to either JFK or LGA is not bad at all.

The key to mco is being able to read the standby lists and when to go to the next option. A later flight could look wide open but if you don't see the oversold by 10plus on the first flight and the 30 NRSAs you will be shocked how fast things go south. Even 1 canceled flight early or the night before can cause issues. Not sure how many times I have gone to sleep and the first two flights to iah will have 20-30 open seats to then wake up and it's oversold by 20.

Plus on united they roll over the non united pilots on the jumpseat list (which I think is wrong). Someone can show up early knowing they won't make the flight and it will roll over to each flight before another jumpseater can even get to the gate to list when the gate agent shows up. Personally I feel it should be even/fair game for each flight for those UAX/OA where the list is flushed after each flight and those only with UA should be rolled over to the next flight.

It doesn't matter if you can read the standby list correctly if the only flight options left for the day are both United flights to MCO or a 2-leg option that will only get you halfway home that night. You know you're not going to make it home most likely and still sit at the gate waiting and hoping that the two United pilots listed for the 1 jumpseat don't show up.

Commuting at all? You crazy?

Yah i agree crazy to Orlando. But can't see living in ewr lga iad pit.

what about dtw?

thanks a bunch

The thing with any Florida city is the Florida/Georgia border. Once you cross it going in the direction you want to go, things get much simpler (weather depending). But thousands of pilots and FAs live in Florida, so you will wind up wasting gobs of time. Having lived and been based there, I can vouch that the commute is pretty tough.

I've commuted to and been based in DTW before as well. It's easier than some, and harder than others. Relatively few pilots live there (it is, after all, Detroit). It's always easier to travel on whatever airline you work for (or, if you are regional pilot, on the brand you code-share with) than it is on other carriers.

If you are not willing to live in base for whatever reason (and it must be reiterated that living in base will make your life much, much more enjoyable), I'd choose a mid-sized city that is served with a lot of frequency from a number of carriers or that has service to all of the major hubs. RDU, for example, or BNA, or someplace similar. What you want to avoid is living somewhere that is only served by RJs. That will bite you at some point--probably at many "some points."

Playing the odds is reading the standby lists. Plus tribal knowledge helps too. Like knowing the first flight from iah to mco has a large miss connect rate due to people being stuck in customs. Knowing that sometimes flying west then east can help. Lax/phx/SFO/las/sea typically have red eye flights to mco. Obviously that can be restrictive. The last flights from iah to mco usually has TPA flight leaving near the departure time ($20 rental car usually). If a flight is oversold with multiple mainline jumpseaters I am looking at other options including fedex vs spending the night. Thinking on your feet and knowing when to cut your losses, having tribal knowledge, sometimes having lots of luck or "commuting karma points" can make or break you getting home or to work.

I'm not saying it's easy, but I have known commuters to think outside the box to get home and a few times they beat me home. From noting getting home from rolling standby lists to flying IAH-AUS-MCO. Or iah-lax-MCO. (Cheaper than a hotel)

The understatement of the year................. I"m surprised there's not fist fights at the gate. LOL

Mco commuter out of here. Only once I had to take the next flight in a whole year.

If you work weekends, usually there's less people commuting.

It all depends where you are commuting to out of Orlando. I tried MCO to DFW and MCO to ATL for months I didn't make it on 90% of the flights I tried. I had to give up most days and go back to the crash pad after missing 5-6 consecutive flights. I now commute out of MCO to a non mainline base and I have made it on all of the flights I've tried over the last couple years (been on the JS a lot but a seat is a seat).

DTW shouldn't be a bad commute, if you're commuting from a Delta served city.

I disagree on the DTW option ... especially if coming to/from Atlanta. DTW is a hub for Delta and while there are flights practically every hour, everyone that I have been on have been packed full with 10+ non-revs waiting at the gate.

Why? There is a lot of deadhead activity currently happening between these city pairs. It may not be forever but there is always 1 if not 4 crews grabbing positive space to go pick up a trip in DTW.

Currently Delta is using MDs, 73s, and the occassional 75/76 on these routes best I can tell.