Mdrungu

SO appreciate the Forum and this awesome thread.

I live 40 min from CLT, have several CJO’s w/ regionals. Thoughts on whether best to commute from CLT to some Republic base? Or join PSA and hope to get CLT? Flow is not a big deal to me – hoping to get current and move along before flow would factor. Max QoL guy.

Grateful in advance for your wisdom and advice!

greendotplus10

How to achieve max QOL is going to be different for each person. Republic has one of the better contracts and thus better work rules. But, it might not be worth it if you'll always be stuck with a commute to/from CLT. If it were me I'd be trying to avoid the commute, but the decision isn't as simple as choosing an airline that has a CLT base. I do believe CLT is senior at PSA. Consider the base seniority as both FO and CA. You might be able to get in very easily as an FO but then the next thing you know you are force upgraded into EWR (that place sucks) and/or it takes many additional years of seniority to be able to hold CLT again.

I live in base and always have. Once you taste living in base, there's no going back to the commute (for me anyway). Some guys hardly complain though. I was flying with a captain recently who had been doing a two leg commute across most of the country...for over 10 years.

chrisreedrules

Neither are great options for you truthfully...

CLT is a big American and PSA/soon to be growing Piedmont base. WO regional pilots and of course mainline have a very large amount of pilots that commute to/from CLT and you will go behind them on the priority list. In an age of oversold flights and cheaper economy fairs not having priority for the jumpseat will become a drag real quick if you chose to live in CLT and commute to a RAH base.

On the other hand if you decided to go with PSA for the CLT base, you should do so knowing that it is the most senior base at PSA. You may not be able to hold CLT right out of training (I’m not 100% positive about this). It will likely take you a year+ to hold a line as an FO. And just about the time you’re enjoying the quality of life being a senior FO living in base affords you, you’ll be senior-manned into an upgrade to CA. Likely around the 2 year mark. Then you’ll be forced out of CLT and forced to commute to ORF, DAY, or wherever else you choose to sit reserve. And it likely won’t be until your 4th or maybe 5th year at PSA that you’ll have a line in CLT. CLT grew by about 10 lines for September 2018 but as I understand it the overall plan is for PSA to somewhat shrink their footprint in CLT beginning mid-2019 while Piedmont grows their 145 operation there. That isn’t 100% confirmed but that’s the latest plan as I heard it.

I’m not telling you one option is better than the other because honestly neither are good if you ask me. If CLT and PSA were your goals being hired in 2014/2015 would have been the sweet spot. If RAH is your choice commuting in and out of CLT won’t be very fun despite the frequency of flights.

Mdrungu

Thanks for the great advice - went w/ RJet. Now what? Bid for CMH, PIT, DCA? I'll be commuting from CLT so hoping to minimize time on reserve, fewer but longer trips, etc. Thx in advance!

FlyGood

Maybe hold off on DC until you can get a line but there’s a solid number of commuters between CLT and DC and I never seem to hear of a problem. Reserve at YX is starting to lengthen a bit with the slight hiring boom this year. I have no idea how long you’ll be on reserve or what bases have the shortest reserve time.

chrisreedrules

There are quite a few CLT-DCA and CLT-PIT commuters. CMH may be a good option. DCA isn’t too terrible but I’ve seen the non-rev list 30+ deep on flights between the two.

It looks like Sunday-Friday 8 flights /day on AA/Eagle CLT-CMH with the first flight at 7:30AM. Last flight out of CMH to CLT is at 7:45/8:00PM except on Saturdays it looks like 6:00PM. Saturday’s it looks like 5 flights CLT-CMH.

IFlyThings

Welcome to Republic!

IND and CMH are receiving the most FOs at the moment, and if the trend continues, that will push you out of Reserve rapidly. DCA is running more senior, a classmate of mine with 14 months seniority got a composite line this month (blended line and reserve).

However, keep in mind that hiring patterns and base assignments change with the whims of Management, and what I say today may not hold true for tomorrow.

OffAtTango

I would bid for CMH. I finished training back at the end of July, finished IOE about halfway through August, and held a 92 credit hour line in September. The only issue with CMH is that most trips start very early, requiring you to get there the before, and there are practically zero crashpads. Most FO's I know stay at Days Inn for $40/night or the Hampton Inn for $70/night.

Tpinks

Another option would be EWR. I believe we operate all EWR-CLT flights, but I could be wrong on that. It seems like I'm in CLT all the time though from EWR.

Don't do PIT though. PIT-CLT is one of the heaviest commuted flights in the entire AA system as a lot of the USAir people stayed in PIT after the dehubbing and now either commute to CLT or PHL. I've seen those flights have well into the upper 30's, or higher, non-revs listed.

FlyingSlowly

Yeah...I'm with PSA, but I know CLT.

For commuting from CLT, go with CMH. It's basically us and you guys on that route. Probably no one from PSA will commute either direction on that route, they'll drive to DAY instead. And even the last-out A319 has 2 jumpseats if you have to come in to CMH the night before. First priority on your jumpseat and very little competition for ours, if it comes to that...

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