How long can a new hire expect to wait to hold FLL? Thanks in advance.

And how about DFW?

It looks like both should be attainable by the time you are off OE.

Actually one of the new hires in the July class is projected to be awarded DFW on his or her initial bid assignment, at least until the guys in the classes ahead of him get wind and put their bid in for DFW to snatch it from him.

To the OP;
I commute LAX to LAS as a middle of the road FO. Out of training, I got ACY for 1 month and DTW for 1 month, then got LAS as a base. This changes month by month so your mileage may vary.

It took about 9 months from date of hire to get a line. Reserve wasn't too bad compared to my regional airline. If there was something they were going to call you for, it was generally on your schedule 24 hours in advance (which is something nice most other airlines will not do). If you are trying to be cost-effective, you will need a crashpad while commuting on reserve. Once you have a line, it isn't necessary if you'd rather do hotels. I fly with a handful of commuter captains who still keep crashpads. The comfort of knowing you have a bed to sleep in regardless of what happens with your commute can be nice.

LAX to LAS is considered an easy commute and a lot of guys here (and at delta, united, virgin, ect) do it. I use the word 'easy' based on the frequency of flights per day and the fact that it is mostly mainline with two jumpseats that operate the flights. With that being said, as mentioned above, any commute is very undesirable and adds a lot of unnecessary displeasure and stress to this job. Some deal with it better than others and you will hear different opinions on how 'bad' XXX commute is.

With all that being said, to ultimately answer your original question, even as a commuter once you hold a line in LAS you can expect a decent schedule and plenty of time at home compared to your 91/135 job. Very quickly you will find that the commute will chip away at the time you will be able to be home and there will be plenty of nights you get delayed on the last day of your trip and you will be stuck in Vegas. As someone who has both lived in based, commuted and is a SoCal cheerleader; I plan to move to Vegas in the near future.

All good points, and I’ll add one more item for those commuting to reserve guys. The “call me first” option is a great thing in those scenarios. As a commuter who is barely off reserve I enjoyed that option. YMMV I’m sure, but I’ve had good luck.

GP

And those living in base I’m sure thank you for your call me first selection. Be sure to preference all red eye flying trips.

Thank you very much for your reply (and to everyone else as well). This is exactly the feedback I wanted to hear and it seems manageable. I may also relocate to LAS in the future but need to maintain my home in SoCal for now as the wife’s income is making this feasible.

Thanks again to everyone for all the thoughtful replies. It’s much appreciated.

Well you seem like I good personality so I hope you join the group. Cheers

No problem. Glad it cleared up some questions. Feel free to PM me in the future if you have any other questions.

FWIW- I flew 135 charter for 2 years before jumping over to a 121 regional. I was commuting LAX-ORD on reserve at the time. I distinctly remember telling myself that even then I was happy because that QOL had far exceeded the jet charter job. I think initially you will be very happy with the change, even if you are doing the LAX-LAS commute.