flensr

Hello,

I'm looking for inputs on OAK PHX or LAS as bases for someone who will be commuting from the so-cal area. Hotel avail, flights in/out, costs, etc. Any thoughts on which would be better for a new FO? OAK is junior and likely as the first base award but it looks like PHX is probably available within a month, LAS a month or two after that. So what do you see as the pros and cons for basing at those options?

Thanks!

at6d

I commuted for a while to PHX. Hotels are not too expensive, but can be during Spring Training. I had a crash pad for about $200/month and a $5 uber rate.

OAK hotels are expensive.

LAS has some good hotel options.

LAX may be a good option for you in November!

French3Holer

It depends where in So-Cal. From OAK there are a ton of So-Cal flights - BUR, LAX, ONT, SNA, LGB. What airport would be your preferred commuting choice (and secondary)?

I would list out the flights and then balance out the hotel/crashpad options.

e6bpilot

Pilots, like water, usually take the path of least resistance. Talk to others in your situation and living area that you run across and find out what the best deal is.
I found PHX to be easy for me (I commuted from the center of the country), but at the end of the day it is another huge airport and the time that killed me was the time from walking off the airplane to arriving at the hotel and vice versa. Hours of my life turned into days of my life and I began to hate the commute.
Vegas was the same only worse.
Hotels are cheap in both locations, but the time involved made me want to hurt people.
OAK is a great airport, but the hotel choices suck. The California shuttle flights run all day, though, and you may decide it is a better choice for commutability.
I suspect once the LAX base opens, a lot of the SoCal holdouts will decide that driving 3 hours is better than staying the night in the desert.

flysocal77

SoCal area is too vague to give you and opinion. What’s the commuter airport?

flensr

I'm near LAX and LGB. I sort of commuted LAX - LAS for a few months with another company but I had a house in LAS I was using as a crashpad while I fixed it up to sell, so I didn't really learn anything about LAS hotels. It sounds like both PHX and LAS will have good access from LAX, making hotel and/or crashpad quality the main consideration? I prefer hotel over crashpad but I know that will significantly increase costs while on reserve so I'm going to also be looking at crashpads until I can hold a line.

I know preferring fly over pass while on reserves can reduce how much I sit on reserve waiting for a call, which can help avoid wasting money sitting in a hotel. My initial impression is that both PHX and LAS would be better than OAK, for both access and hotels...?

flysocal77

LGB def OAK
LAX I would say OAK or LAS. But i bet it’s gonna be our most junior base once the dust settles.

Once you get a hard line ELITT can get you commutable PMs but first you need to weather the storm. I would say LAS until then since OAK Cycles through first month guys who get hard lines. Welcome aboard!

flensr

On the latest base award, just about all the new hires from the last few classes got OAK which means I'm already 10% off of the bottom of the list Holding a line at OAK vs. sitting reserve at LAS or PHX... That's a tougher decision and I'm thinking a line at OAK might be the better choice. June should be my freebie new hire line, so my first "real" monthly bid will be for July. Thoughts?

Peacock

Every month more new hires are forced into OAK. And they all get lines. Then they leave, and next month a new batch are forced in, and they get lines. Guys from my class have blank lines at various bases after six months on the line, but not in OAK.

flensr

Ah, that makes sense. So at OAK you actually need MORE seniority to get a line (or blank line) because the new hires on first-month end up with lines, pushing the reserve awards farther up the seniority list. I can see how that would really skew the results.