CAirBear

No problem at all! 😎

SSlow

Depends on where you're coming in from, but you'd be surprised what you could get done in DFW. When I commuted there in 2018, it was 1 hour gate to gate from my home airport with 10-12x daily service on AA. I would bid early shows and take the last flight into DFW departing at 8pm the night before, and be at the hotel by 930pm at the latest. Backup flight was the early morning departure arriving in DFW just after 6am, so I was good to go for anything with a report time after 6:15am. Last train home from DFW left at 10:35pm most nights, and that worked out more often that not. I also had SWA out of DAL if I was really in a pinch.

Honestly, of the few different commutes I've done it was the one where I spent the least amount of time sitting around in the airport. To be fair though I did have to buy my fair share of hotel rooms the night prior.

Qotsaautopilot

As someone that commuted for 8 years and lived in base 7 the amount of money and time lost just on the type of trips you may fly, or purposely bidding RSV at home, or premium pay opportunities taken or lost, is really massive. You can make significantly more money AND and have significantly more time at home living in base.

CAirBear

For sure, but the fact you can live where ever you want is pretty damn cool and should never ever be overlooked. In the massive grand scheme of things, commuting isn’t going to change anyone’s life (financially) that much.

Assuming you came here 20-30 years left your going to retire with $2-3 million + with almost zero effort. Commuting isn’t going to change that figure.

I have ZERO interest in ever living in base (unless my hometown becomes a base &#128518. I “lived in base” at a regional. Everyone told me
it’s such a QOL game changer. 🥱 it sucked immensely. So I have an apartment in a city where I have no connection to (let alone actual care about), only know/have half a dozen CA friends I flew with and for what? It sucked. My friends and family and the things I ACTUALLY cared about were back home.

Live where you want to live (within reason). With the number of bases we have I assume (unless you super small town/city) most can get non stop flights to work.

TrojanCMH

Trust me, I’d love to move to base and I think most commuters would too, but in doing so I’d be asking way too much of my wife. I’d pull her away from her family and job so she could basically sit at home by herself for ~15 days a month. Not everyone can just uproot their family and move unfortunately.

Qotsaautopilot

I wish I had done it sooner. Over time you make new friends and “support system”. Having great neighbors helps a lot. Picking the right neighborhood and school district is key to the neighbor factor.

Slowhawk

I’m in the “move to your base so life doesn’t suck” camp.

But then there’s the “we moved to base and the wife hates it” camp...

BeechedJet

I got this one easy tip to make more money. Leave the regionals.

PilotMechanic

Burn...... Kelso style from That 70s Show.

dba74

Hey all, any good rumors of new pilot bases? BWI maybe? Thanks