Out of the Air Force and trying to be near extended family in PacNw. Any Northwesterners flying for SWA? How’s the commutes? Places to avoid? Looking around PDX, GEG, maybe BOI (inland, I know). Thanks in advance for helping a noob.

 

Quite a few. Commute to OAK, LAS and DEN depending on seniority and commute times.

 

It may be a whIle to hold DEN, especially as a line holder. PHX and LAX should also be considered as they both are more junior and commutable from PNW. I'd much rather have a longer commute to a line than shorter commute to reserve.

 

I personally know three GEG commuters based in OAK and PHX. Bottom line is long term planning; can you handle commuting to your first domicile for six months? A year?

The opening of LAX will cause a shift in movement over time, no doubt. While it’s still too early to tell the results, the good news is that we have had a good history of vacancy bids every month.

An FO hired in Jan of 2016 can hold any domicile at an average of 50% seniority (except for ATL and MCO).

Of course, today a newhire is 2000 FOs later, so time to domicile is going to be different.

One good thing about SWA is the ability to give away flying in one domicile and pick up in another. I did this as a newhire to try and mitigate some commuting. You will learn to be creative, but like I said...plan for the long term.

 

I have commuted from SEA-OAk for over 20 years. A lot of commuters up here. Flights are full, especially during cruise ship season. Starting in a few weeks and going until early Oct.

BOI and GEG is a tough commute.

GEG-OAK has 2 non-stop flights a day. 0530 and 1630. OAK-GEG it's 1130 and 2145.

BOI has very similar times as GEG.
LAS is about the same commute.

PDX has a lot of commuters too.

 

I was in the same boat 5 years ago, we were looking pretty hard at living in Gig Harbor, doing the Reserve gig at TCM, and commuting to OAK. The PNW commute is just a tough commute for SWA. It’s popular, crowded, and the number of flights haven’t been increasing. I do think it’ll be easier with the new LAX option, but I’m not sure how that will look exactly. Most commuters do OAK, a lot do LAS, some do DEN, and a few do PHX. I think LAX will grow somewhat quickly and that’ll be a decent option, depending the hotel/crashpad situation.

 

Thanks for the inputs guys... I really appreciate it!

 

Commuting (did it for over a decade) is a soul-sucking, life-draining, chronic anchor on your life. It does not get more fun or easier the longer you do it.

When I stopped commuting, it took lots of time for my brain and my soul to heal. After having not commuted now for a while, I can tell you commuting is worse than everybody says it is. The guys who commute (I was one) have to tell themselves lies and play tricks on themselves to be able to live with it.

It’s days out of your week and years off of your life. The PNW is cool but not cool enough to commute.

 

Let me share something I heard from a retiring pilot about the cost of commuting. Most people look at commuting costs as hotels and crashpads. It's a defensive mechanism because the true costs are much, much higher.

As a commuter, how many uncompensated days do you spend flying to or from your airline job? At Southwest, it's roughly 4 days a month if you only fly your line. Some can be more, some less, but let's stick with 4 days. At Southwest, our average daily guarantee is 6.5 TFP.

A pilot who lives in domicile gets essentially 4 more days at home each month than a commuter. Should that pilot choose to work those 4 days only getting ADG, here's how the math works out to be:

2nd year FO at current rate of $103.27 x 26 TFP = $2,685 per month.

4th year FO at current rate of $126.92 x 26 TFP = $3,300 per month.

7th year FO at current rate of $148.95 x 26 TFP = $3,873 per month.

12th year Captain at the current rate of $231.54 x 26 TFP = $6,020 per month.

Mind you, these figures do not include per diem, your 15% NEC contribution, or your profit sharing. All combined, you can add another 26-27% on top of that figure. Now multiply those figures over the course of your career, don't even bother with compounding or adding future contractual raises, but the difference over the course of one's career is well in the 7 figures depending on your age.

Commuting is EXTREMELY expensive over the cost of one's career.

 

I don’t think anybody given the choice would commute for no reason.

But for most there is a reason. So if you’re committed to a location and haven’t won the lottery then you need to support yourself. Having worked a typical 9 to 5 job I chose commuting. It’s no contest.

Pilots are usually a pretty intelligent group. If we’re subjecting ourselves to the fun that is commuting it’s not by accident.