Thanks for the great gouge. I’m not a native Vermonter (wife is); are there any places besides Norwich/Woodstock I should look into? My in-laws are in south royalton, schools are the most important part of this for us. I’ve heard south Burlington has the best high school in the state, but that might be a tad too far. Any other suggestions?

 

I’ve met people who commute from Singapore, so maybe VT will work. Of course you have to get hired first.

 

I posted the above in a different thread not too long ago. At 4.5 hours drive to EWR with minimal traffic, you'd be leaving the house roughly 5-6 hours before show time if you drove. If you flew out of BTV, MHT, or BOS I'd hazard that you would have to leave the house at least 5-6 hours before show time to have a contractually compliant backup commute flight. I'd also consider flying into JFK and LGA under some circumstances so you'd want to think about how to get across town (hypothetical example - 0600 flight from BTV to EWR with next EWR flight 3 hours later that will not get you in prior to showtime. But there is an 0630 flight to JFK usable as a backup, since you could take almost 2.5 hours to get across town).

If you lived next door to BTV or MHT, you would probably fly most of the time year round. But since you have to drive 1+ hours just to get to either location from the Norwich area, I think driving is going to be the winner most of the time because of the flexibility and reliability (especially if you bid for LGA trips, which means you probably want the Bus out of training). In the fall and spring when the weather is good and loads are light (don't forget to consider them roundtrip!), I think you'd probably fly. Get yourself a cheap, economical used car with low miles and I think you'd be pretty glad you did.

 

I've been driving from Cape Cod to EWR for three years. At 4+ hours, its just doable. I actually have to leave the house earlier to go to BOS to fly down.

The Boston commute can be tough. The schedule is sparse in the middle of the day, the flights can be oversold for weeks, and there are lots of guys on the jumpseat. If you're late getting back you may be in for an unplanned overnight.

So, yeah. Its doable.

 

Are you dead set on United? Last drop at AA has BOS 73 going to new hires. Good luck


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AA is definitely in the scan. However, I’ve been told that BOS is not a large base and is liable to get removed. I’ve always been told not to pick an airline for a specific base if not a fortress hub because it would suck to be stuck commuting to a place that wasn’t necessarily the first choice. Good problem to have though. Got to get hired first to hopefully have that dilemma

 

A follow on thought for you. I bid 100% commutable trips - that is no departures prior to 1000 and no returns after 2100. But a "commutable" schedule to BTV/MHT may not even allow you a window nearly that big and you may not savor rolling out of bed at 0200 for a 4.5 hour drive to EWR either. If you have a decent EWR crashpad you can commute in on the on the last flight the night prior to a morning departure (with driving possibly being your backup, ouch). Once in base, you can look for opportunities to pick up an earlier departure. That is, if you arrive in EWR at 2100 and at 0400 in the morning a 2 day trip comes open that leaves at 0600 which no Short Call or Field Standby can cover. You can roll out of bed, call scheduling and let them know you'd be happy to drop your existing 4 day trip and help them out... at 100% add pay. If they say no, tell them to call back if they change their mind and go back to sleep. Won't happen very often, but commuting in the night before can reduce your stress greatly.