ASA LAX or ATL base advice
 

HI, I just got hired with ASA and I have to bid on a base the first week of training. Anyone have any advice? :confused: I am concerned about quality of life mainly, it sounds like if I share housing it actually isn't a LOT more expensive at LA just a little. SO far I've heard that LAX is a shorter reserve. Anyone know much about either place? Ive lived in St. Paul, MN, Grand Forks, ND, and Tucson AZ(for only 6 mos.). So I don't know a whole lot about either place. Any advice is welcome! thanks!

I've been to ATL a few times and it's a very nice place and I can only imagine the cost of living is MUCH lower than LA. I remember looking a few months ago and LA was 76% higher cost of living than Houston. Do a google for that one. I personally found LA to be dirty but it's been about 5 years.

There are plenty of places to live in LA that won't break the bank. Go on Craigslist and search for places in east LA. Plenty of guys who grew up in the suburbs get scared of places like Chino or riverside, but they really aren't that bad.

Ha that's funny... Stay away from LA, if you look past Malibu/OC/ and Beverly hills it's quickly becoming little s-hole Mexico. Traffic is unimaginable here and there virtually is no public transportation. Chino and especially Riverside are no mans land, just a couple of trailers here and there. And because of the out of control housing market the last few years you won't be able to afford anthing with a regional pay. Weather is pretty much the only thing that's good about this place.

Longbeach/seal beach/huntington beach area is really nice.

Long Beach and San Pedro are near the water, not ghetto, and somewhat affordable. These are real, working neighborhoods, not the OC.

How was the interview? Where are most new hires going? Will it be easy to get LAX as a base in the next couple months? ARe lines increasing there at LAX?

I have been here nine and a half years. Let me put a little light on this.
First, I have a good friend of mine that moved from ATL to LA to try out the base. He is in a two bedroom Apt paying about 1900 per month. That is more than my mortgage for a five bedroom house in ATL. Second, you must remember that most of the flying out of LAX is day trips. You will need to live fairly close so that you do not spend most of your time in a car. There are two rotations that have overnights and besides that it is all day trip. He loves the flying out there, but think that he made a mistake.
That said it is only one person. They have just announced more growth out there. You will probably be on reserve less time out there, but how long it is a base is anyone's guess.
ATL on the other had has it problems, but most people can afford it. It is not that bad here. You will have a better variety of trips and people out here. There is something that most people do not account for in ATL. Most if not all of the attrition is from the ATL hub. There will be a few LAX guys and gals leave but out of the 30-40 a month that are leaving, the majority are ATL based. There has been a lot of upward movement here. We have upgraded 65 or so F/O's in the last three months with a lot more to follow.
Whatever your choice, make it for personal reasons, not professional.

Well, that wasn't racist.........
anyway, Long Beach has come a long way and its pretty affordable. Belmont Shore and Downtown have a great night life and have some nice apartments.

I cannot say much about the LAX base as I have only been in DFW and ATL. From what I can see reserve in ATL shouldn't last very long as we are trying to hire 20-40 p/m through May. Also once the contract is done the reserve system will improve. At present ATL is our primary base and offers a greater choice for overall QOL unless you live or want to live on the west coast IMHO.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I Am still undecided but the advice helps a lot I think I will be happy no matter where I end up. I was told that although chances are likely that I will get Atlanta, not to rule out LA. So I interpret that as they might still send a few people to LA and if no one wants it I will probably be sent because I am at the bottom of the seniority for my class (it goes by age). Either that or I'll get the ATR and I really would prefer the CRJ. I was also told that if people want LA that they will probably get it because some people living there would prefer Atlanta. So who knows what will happen! I think I will end up in ATL but I wanted to find out more about LA. OK Thanks again, and if anyone more has advice I'd definitely still like to hear it.

LA will be a lot more expensive. Everything is more expensive out there....gas, housing, food, etc. Plan to spend a lot of time in traffic and commuting via car.

I've never been to ATL, but I would choose LA because I'm from Orange County.

It was announced lat week that LAX is closing. That ought to help you with the decision.

hah yeah just found that out today too, I guess that helps. Good thing I was leaning toward atlanta anyway

I cannot believe they're closing that base... Who goofed? Delta or ASA?

I'm not too sure on who did the goofing, but if anything, it was for ASA to lose and Delta to give out. Being that the contract at ASA isn't completed yet, maybe Delta (this is just my humble opinion) felt like they could save with announcing another carrier there. I mean, it was a little out of place for ASA to go west coast, but I would have sure enjoyed it.

Rumor is that Delta pulled the plug because ASA's operating efficiency was abysmal in LAX what with deadheading crews back and forth, and ASA's refusal to open a maintenance base.

Other rumors say that ASA was never intended to be more than a place marker to hold gates the LAX airport authority threatened to take if Delta wasn't using until a REAL carrier could spool up to do the flying.

I think the only goof was for ASA management to open a crew base. They should have just run it out of ATL since that's what ended up happening anyhow.