RJS,

All of that assumes the spouse has no career of his/her own. How selfish are we to derail his/her career progression just to make our own lives easier?

I’m quite thankful that my wife works. Her career carried us through several furloughs and forced relocations. I’m fortunate that we are able to live in a domicile now, but that decision was made by her ability to transfer to a department in this city. Only recently did my compensation eclipse hers. And then she got a promotion and now we’re both making about the same money again. It wouldn’t be fair (or smart) to ask her to give up her life’s work just to make MY life easier. I’m glad I didn’t have to.

There are lots of reasons to commute. We have divorced parents who are geographically anchored to the children. Husbands whose wives are doctors or lawyers with established practices. Pilots who care for elderly parents. Or just those who can’t see living in one of our domiciles.

I don’t blame them. If we had commutable lines I’d move back to the small town we came from in a snap. Cheaper, safer, prettier. 42% of our pilots commute and I am bewildered why they don’t take up pitchforks and torches at HQ and demand some commutable lines. But I guess we have Stockholm syndrome and instead we brag about our industry leading (?) flexibility, or the efficiency of our trips. Commutable Tripp’s might pay less and couldn’t be locked into the AM/PM paradigm. We have 10,000 pilots. There should be trips that fit everyone’s needs. Plenty of flying to go around.



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I’d argue that if your spouse was making as much or more than you did then you wouldn’t be worried about picking up extra flying. Heck, I’d be giving away my trips since almost 40% of what I made would go to Uncle Sam in taxes...

 

Yup. Again. On all counts.

Sadly, many pilots don't even consider many of these either, as we'll see in the many responses in this and any other thread discussing it.

Taking one for the team might look good early on in one's career, but I don't know too many folks who wouldn't go back and seriously reconsider it after decades of doing so.

There are many reasons to commute. A pilot and his/her family has to weigh whether or not the significant costs of doing so are worth it in the long run.

The one regret I have in my career is not moving closer to a domicile sooner.

 

Yep. My wife has always made more money than me with her career, but that’ll be changing soon as my rate increases

We are also very established where I commute from. We have family on both sides. The kids have shcools, church and friends that they like. There are lots of reasons for us, plus I like having the family established and living somewhere they like. I travel when I’m at work anyway, but they’re “stuck” where they are when I’m gone... they might as well like it.

 

You guys don’t have to justify or defend your decisions to commute. Your family dynamics are personal preferences and choices.

My intent here is to point out the opportunity cost of commuting in terms of uncompensated additional time spent away from your family, especially early on in one’s career. As I said, over the course of one’s career, it’s very likely in the 7 digits.

 

That's a higher number than I was expecting. I keep hearing that the job is so much better if you live in base, and while I expect that's true, there's a lot more to life than the job.

I suspect it's a great job even if you don't live in base.

I recognize that commuting comes with a significant opportunity cost, and that shouldn't be overlooked. But, at the end of a multi-million dollar career, I suspect many will look back and regret the time spent commuting rather than the money left on the table due to commuting.

That said, I've talked to more than a few SWA pilots where I live and they are able to work their schedule such that they have very few trips that aren't commutable on both ends. In fact, a good friend of mine told me it's been 8 months since he's spent a night in a hotel in MDW. That's encouraging and while I keep hearing that SW doesn't have commutable trips, there may be exceptions depending on where you live and where you're commuting to (along with seniority, and other factors).

The fact that 42% of pilots are commuting is encouraging to an outsider looking in.

 

I didn’t say that SWA doesn’t have commutable TRIPS. I said they don’t have commutable LINES. That means work is required to modify the schedule in order to locate and trade into commutable trips.


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My apologies, you're correct. Commutable lines would be great.


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My apologies, Zap. I failed to recognize that distinction in semantics. You're correct.

Commutable lines would be nice.

 

I’ve lived in domicile and out of domicile. It’s not just a different job, it’s a different life. Everyone is different but I hate the time I spend in waiting rooms waiting to board and arranging my days off around flight schedule and load factors and weather.

In domicile this career is a hobby. Out of domicile it’s a full time job.

I’m definitely not critical of others’ choices. We’re all adults and make our own decisions but I’m moving to a domicile as soon as practicable. The only decision is which one.