Take IAD and live in Winchester VA... 1+15 drive to the lot.

 

“Reasonable.”

Enjoy dealing with the d-bag crowd at Mcafferys shopping for groceries, the tolls, traffic, people, taxes cost of living and the rest of the crap that comes with living up there. Bucks county is like the cleanest end of a chalky white dog turd.

Pro tip, use the Calhoun bridge to 29 then US-1 to ewr when it’s really icy/snowy. Trenton Makes the World Takes!

 

Aw man I dunno we love it up here so far. Like 5 if my squadron/airline buddies live within walking distance so maybe I have rose colored glasses. Also living in a junior base if I do one or two days of premium flying per month (which I couldn’t do if I commuted) negates the HCOL. Don’t scare him off I’m trying to increase my pilot yardley posse.

 

Having been born and raised in Texas, I was hesitant to move in base when I started at United (LAX).

(1) Now that I’ve been here for several years, I cannot believe I even considered commuting. My drive to work is 20 minutes.

(2) I made about 200k and paid about 11k in CA state income tax. It’s always amazing to me the feats that pilots will go through to avoid what ends up being such a small amount of money (living in a less desirable area, commuting in the day before/day after a trip, paying for crash pads, paying for hotels, putting miles on their cars, burning gas, spending less time at home, not being able to pick up more flying because they are busy commuting, etc....)

(4) It’s the best kept secret in the airline industry. Live in base in a more desirable base, hence more expensive, hence typically a junior base. Fly one extra day per month and it more than makes up for the extra cost of living in a more desirable base. In the end, you’ll actually spend less time away from home because you don’t have to put up with commuting every week. Or fly on a more senior airplane making more money because it’s more junior in a more desirable base. I take home more money than equivalent seniority pilots who are based DEN/ORD/IAH because I’m on a more senior airplane flying better trips. Choosing to value number 4 on your list (good seniority) more than takes care of number 2 on your list (low taxes).

Avoiding a more desirable base because of it’s higher cost of living reminds me of the people who drive around to save a few pennies on a gallon of gas. Sure it might save you $1 on your tank of gas, but you pay for it with the wear and tear on your car, not to mention the value of your time.

If California is off your list, I would suggest Vegas.

When you make what we make, a few thousand a year in extra cost of living doesn’t even register on my quality of life. Commuting, being away from home, flying less senior airplanes and trips, working weekends and holidays, etc... does. You only live once. Live where you want to live.

 

If you want to stay in SFO, Vegas is a surprisingly nice place, summer hot as hell but you get a lot of house for the money, no income tax and a short drive into Utah. If your into camping, hiking, off-roading Utah is absolutely amazing. Vegas is also an easy drive into Flagstaff and tons of other outdoor recreation. I know a lot of guys that live out in PA, but to me it seems a bit boring suburb like living, to each their own though. Denver is great to if your out a ways into the mountains.

 

And Denver is becoming “less” senior with each vacancy bid.

 

And more expensive for housing...

 

I'll add a plug for the areas west of Leesburg, VA on Rt 7 in Loudoun County. We moved here this Summer to Round Hill, VA on the eastern flank of the Blue Ridge mtns (6 minutes and I'm on the Appalachian Trail). Vineyards, breweries, and horse farms at every turn with gorgeous scenery and only 30-35 minutes to the IAD employee lot. Prices are not "low", as you'll pay a minimum of $700k for a nice 3-4,000 sq ft home on 1-3 acres....however Houston is our only UAL domicile where you can get below that anywhere close to the airport in a desirable neighborhood with strong public schools. Taxes are moderate here and so are the politics. Schools are very strong.

If you want a more conservative area with nice homes on large lots in the $500-600k range you can go south to Facquier Co (Warrenton) or continue west on Rt 7 over into the Shenandoah Valley to Clarke Co or preferably Frederick Co for the schools (Winchester)...all of these commutes are in the 45-60 minute range.

IAD has a TON of UAL growth potential (reference Scott Kirby comments this week) as we are clearly the dominant air carrier in N.Va, especially for the premium and business traveler. Loudoun is the wealthiest county per capita in the entire country by a long shot with Amazon, Google, etc all building up rapidly here in the next 10 years. Don't buy off on the moaning about much of the initial IAD growth being RJs...it's called connecting traffic and will lead to notable domestic (MAX) and international (A321 & 787) mainline growth next five years so long as we keep taking on new used/mainline jets.
Good luck!

 

...and yet you took the Guppy upgrade to EWR! Haha!

Hope the base trade happens quick for you BK!

(Just bustin your ball$ buddy!)

 

Good point Shaggy....I shouldn't spend more than Jun-Aug in Newark unless MAX stays grounded?!