The commuter thread
04-18-2023 | 03:45 AM
#131
YGBSM
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: 737 FO
I've been commuting from ECP for 9.5 years. It's not an easy commute but workable. Most panhandle commuters fly out of HOU. Personally I bounce between DAL and HOU based on flight schedules. You have to look at flight schedules before the monthly vacancy bid closes to see which once sucks the least. SWA changes the flights into ECP alot and they have figured out the seasons here.....pretty decent flights during summer, poor number of flights in the off season. Jan and Feb can be rough. This year they cut all the direct flights to HOU for those two months. Bottom line is that it's tolerable, just need to be flexible. Some guys bid back to back 3-days, so you only commute twice a month.
04-18-2023 | 05:51 AM
#132
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 4,553
Likes: 396
The FL panhandle is one of the worst places to commute from in the country for SWA. Delta guys have it rough too, but at least they have frequency and the state bird of Florida (the 757) on some flights.
I used to live there. It's a great place to live. That commute will suck the life out of you, though. I know guys down in destin/ft Walton that used to have to drive to PNS are now able to use VPS, but everything down there is highly seasonal and generally full.
As mentioned above, commuters are like water and flow in the path of least resistance. Most go to Houston. The thought of even considering driving to ATL is a non starter. Way too senior, not that close. I know there used to be a few Orlando commuters who lived there and took silver when that was a thing (not sure if it still is), but same scenario there.
I used to live there. It's a great place to live. That commute will suck the life out of you, though. I know guys down in destin/ft Walton that used to have to drive to PNS are now able to use VPS, but everything down there is highly seasonal and generally full.
As mentioned above, commuters are like water and flow in the path of least resistance. Most go to Houston. The thought of even considering driving to ATL is a non starter. Way too senior, not that close. I know there used to be a few Orlando commuters who lived there and took silver when that was a thing (not sure if it still is), but same scenario there.
04-18-2023 | 06:13 PM
#133
New Hire
Joined: Mar 2023
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Thanks for the info. Is it hard to bid back-to-back 3 day trips, or is that something you can easily do? I know Atlanta is senior for Captain, but I thought I saw somewhere that you could hold a line there within the first year as an FO? Is that true? I wouldn’t mind driving to Atlanta once a month or so if I couldn’t commute via Delta. I’d rather do longer trips, and commute less if I could.
04-19-2023 | 04:45 PM
#135
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Feb 2018
Posts: 1,264
Likes: 0
Thanks for the info. Is it hard to bid back-to-back 3 day trips, or is that something you can easily do? I know Atlanta is senior for Captain, but I thought I saw somewhere that you could hold a line there within the first year as an FO? Is that true? I wouldn’t mind driving to Atlanta once a month or so if I couldn’t commute via Delta. I’d rather do longer trips, and commute less if I could.
I know that guys do them. But, y'know how people talk about the FedEx and UPS guys looking like sh** because they fly back-side of the clock? Ya, it's kinda like that with guys at SWA who regularly do things like fly back to back 3-days when they're not in their 20's or 30's.
04-19-2023 | 04:55 PM
#136
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,655
Likes: 301
Maybe it's because I'm not in my 20's anymore, but anything more than a 2-day at SWA is exhausting to me (unless, apparently, according to flyguy81, you're based in DEN, where most of the trips are less than nine-hour duty days and limited to only one or two legs with 14-plus hour overnights). For me, back to back SWA 3-days would be utter death via overwhelming fatigue.
I know that guys do them. But, y'know how people talk about the FedEx and UPS guys looking like sh** because they fly back-side of the clock? Ya, it's kinda like that with guys at SWA who regularly do things like fly back to back 3-days when they're not in their 20's or 30's.
I know that guys do them. But, y'know how people talk about the FedEx and UPS guys looking like sh** because they fly back-side of the clock? Ya, it's kinda like that with guys at SWA who regularly do things like fly back to back 3-days when they're not in their 20's or 30's.
04-19-2023 | 05:06 PM
#137
New Hire
Joined: Mar 2023
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
I don’t have any airline experience, so I don’t know what I’ll like or not like yet. I definitely don’t think I would want to work 6 days in a row forever, but I could do it some months to buy back a few extra days. I appreciate the feedback though, Iv been a reader for a while and trying to finalize some decisions so I started to post. I told my family I’m gonna commute for as long as it makes sense, and if it’s too much we would look at moving to a domicile. I love the area I’m at, and my priorities are to spend as much time as I can with my family and stay at the beach.
04-21-2023 | 05:46 AM
#138
Line Holder
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 200
Likes: 0
As a commuter I try to work back to back three days. The most exhausting thing for me is commuting, so I try to minimize that. I have found the average overnight to be 14 hours ish. Usually one day in the paring will have a 17-19 hour overnight at some crappy place with a crappy hotel. It’s harder than it seems to make 6 day blocks because everything you’ll get when your junior is weekends, and everything in ELITT is weekends.
04-21-2023 | 10:16 AM
#139
Line Holder
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 997
Likes: 68
As a commuter I try to work back to back three days. The most exhausting thing for me is commuting, so I try to minimize that. I have found the average overnight to be 14 hours ish. Usually one day in the paring will have a 17-19 hour overnight at some crappy place with a crappy hotel. It’s harder than it seems to make 6 day blocks because everything you’ll get when your junior is weekends, and everything in ELITT is weekends.
04-21-2023 | 11:53 AM
#140
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,033
Likes: 0
I would bid 3 days with Sunday or Monday starts (not always easy without some seniority horsepower), and then ELITT 2 of them into Thurs or Friday starts, which is relatively easy to do.
I'd typically have a week to 10 days or so off between my 6 day blocks, which would FLY by. In the end, I was counting the minutes from the time I got home until I had to leave again.
While eliminating 2 commutes per month was nice, working 6 in a row absolutely sucked, and was, among other things, why I finally moved closer to domicile. My only regret was not doing it a decade sooner.
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