Alaska always has seats available between sf and sea. Most guys commute on them since UAL is always full.

all the previous comments are great points . One thing to consider is how junior the SFO base is here at United . And always has been. You can get into a heavy fairly soon.

The lack of scope is truly scary to me . I left Jetblue after 4 ish years to come to United . I don't regret the decision at all. Short term loss sure , but hopefully long term gain. I ll let you know in 30 years .

One of the factors that made me jump is the age . Announced Fleet growth and expansion can change tomorrow , retirements don't .( sure they can change the age to 67+ plus that will effect you no matter what decision you make .)

Lots of retirements at the big 3 compared to pretty much any one else. Have you considered FedEx ?

In my defense, the plan assumed it would be very short lived. I assumed I would be able to move back to EWR in less than a year, but regardless, you are correct, I have been "ridiculous" many times before, BUT do you agree or not? That is the question :)

I agree. You are ridiculous 🤓

Personally...commuting is the one thing I will avoid at all costs. My friends at Alaska love it...but it’s no longer the same airline they fell in love with. If this guy wants to fly where he lives...more power to him. He just needs to know he’s leaving a lot of money on the table.

Come on guys, being a "good place to work" is as transitory as being able to drive to work at United. United finally is on an "up" cycle as far as being a good place to work. I think Alaska has mostly been a good place to work.

I tried to "drive to work". Twice. Ended up with 2 rented houses on each side of the country, rented at a loss for 10 and 13 years each.

If you want to stay in Seattle, I would choose Alaska. Worst case, somebody buys them and you get to wear a different uniform and still drive to SEATAC.

In the summer I commute out of SEA, the last few years mostly on DAL. I take DAL because their loads are lighter. Domestically and internationally. I just went from DEN to SEA after my PC. UAL flights slammed, F9 slammed, Alaska slammed. All the DAL flights that day were 50% load factor or less. The MD I flew on probably had 40 pax. I am not sure SEA is working out for DAL, but I think they are desperate for a decent hub to Asia.

Upgrading at Alaska is going to take forever. They just merged with Virgin America that has something like 6 retirements a year for the next 10 years. There are a LOT of young VX guys not going anywhere that are waiting for a left seat.

If you don’t mind being a narrowbody FO for the next 15 years, you should be ok with Alaska. Or you could commute to SFO and fly 756, 777, 787 as an FO for far more money.

Take a look at the loads now. It takes a little while to build a base.

2 open seats on average for tomorrow.

Hmmm. You’ve had quite the commuting anomaly here. Dal is killing it in Seattle. Genius move for them to grow there. I commute frequently between Sea, Sfo, Slc, Lax, and often left behind when going for delta. In fact, unless the delta jet is an Airbus, I try to plan for Alaska. The rumor of delta not winning in Seattle is absolutely ridiculous.

Commuting sucks. If moving out of Sea is not an option, Alaska. If you could move to a UAL base, I definitely would go that route.

Keep trying for DAL as your best end result. Meanwhile, I’d take UAL and commute. Yes commuting sucks, but I’d rather spend my days off somewhere I love than have 4-5 extra days a month somewhere I don’t.