rickair7777

I flipped through half of them, looks complete and accurate. But SKW should mail you a study packet.

Ultralight

Where can a CRJ new hire expect to be based initially? I'm guessing ORD?

wrxpilot

ORD, MSP, COS and even DEN have been awarded to CRJ new hires lately.

rcfd13

In five months commuting into FAT and out of FAT once a week I got on a brasilia twice and got a seat in the back on Eagle twice. The rest were Eagle/RJ jumpseats or renting a car and driving. Typically I would show up around 10am and there would be 5 other people in uniform waiting for jumpseats, so the most senior person would get the jumpseat each time until it finally got down to me. A bunch of times I got to LAX in the morning and finally got to FAT on the 10pm RJ flight. Twice I had to rent a car with other crew members and drive. Once we flew into Visalia on Lakes and drove from there.

I don't doubt that mainline hub to mainline hub is a hard commute, but FAT definitely isn't easy. It was normal for me to spend 8+ hours sitting around LAX at least once every two weeks. Eventually when I had seniority to hold a different base I switched domiciles and haven't had much of a problem anymore. I don't ever want to go back to FAT if I can avoid it.

MatchPoint

I don't doubt you had issues but me thinks you need to improve your commuting skills. I never found FAT to be hard and I ALWAYS made my first choice in and out during my 3.5 YEARS of commuting there, "once a week." I’ve heard of some having to rent cars but that always baffled me. With a little research and the willingness to be flexible I never had any issues. Maybe because it was I bumping more Jr pilots like you. TFAYD.....

Where were you commuting from? Regardless and with all due respect, you need to seek better instruction on commuting.

duvie

The key to LAX-FAT IMO is taking the late SkyWest jets in. When I was commuting the day time Brasilia flights could get pretty full (although misconnects were pretty frequent), but there was a 9 pm and an 11 pm flight that almost always had lots of seats open. Things will change a little bit for the better (for SkyWest commuters, obviously not AMR guys/gals) now because SkyWest will be doing the Eagle RJ flights midday, but there is still no shortage of competition for the jump. If you're willing to hit Denver or PHX, you shouldn't have a problem finding your way into FAT, although with the expansion of LA and SFO, I don't think one would be forced to stay in FAT all that long.

MatchPoint

Yep, and if you can't hold weekends off then LAS is a great option. LAS-FAT on a Friday is wide open all day and FAT-LAS on Mondays also empty. Allegiant also runs the route several times per week which gives you the jet option. If you can hold weekends off then avoid Vegas at all cost as you will be going to and from on very full flights.

Plus now that FATs been cut in half with the opening of SFO the competitions not quite as fierce as it once was.

SongMan

So if new hire wants SFO, it's not as difficult as before? I ask because SFO is typically sr base.

Thank you

MatchPoint

SFO's not a Sr as you'd think. The most Jr SFO EMB FO has a hire date of 9/2012 and the most Jr FAT EMB FO was hired one month later (10/2012). The most Jr SFO CRJ FO has a hire date of 5/2012.

rcfd13

I was commuting from Chicago and usually went through LAX mostly because it had the most RJ flights per day and ORD-LAX was no problem for that leg of the commute where ORD-SLC-FAT can be difficult. I usually had good luck with Eagle jumpseats LAX-FAT but once in a while I'd get there at 10am and there would be 6 other jumpseaters senior to me waiting. I've had it come down to waiting 10 hours for our late RJ flights a couple of times.

What advice would you give? I'm still junior and did get bumped by senior pilots most of the time. Being junior I'm sure I have a lot to learn about commuting. I'm hoping sometime in the future I can be ORD based and not have to commute.

I've never had a problem commuting ORD-LAX or ORD-SFO. I don't think I've ever been bumped.