30 years ago when we were hired (1995) there were not many airlines hiring. I think only United, Southwest, FedEx and UPS were hiring. Delta wasn't and USAir had 1,000 pilots on furlough. So you probably didn't have a lot of choices. We had a limited choice of airlines to get hired at.

 

"Don't Commute" is not an absolute. But you should consider very carefully before signing up for a career-long commute.

If you have a relatively easy, short, and reliable commute it can better to live on acres near family, friends, and roots rather than relocate the fam to a dystopian urban hub.

 

‘Meh, I hate that rule… Theres a time and place where commuting is going to make sense for a period time because let’s face it, **** happens that beyond our control (spouse job changes, family issues, displacements, or inability to hold desired base)…. So don’t ever rule it out…

With that said if MCO is the big priority then Southwest is a good option….

 

I’ve commuted my entire 12 year airline career. 24 years
left and the chances of me “mOViNg 2 bAse” are 0% 🥱

This stupid a$$ commuting vs living in base has to stop. Seriously folks. It has to. Ffs

 

If you’ve been doing this as long as you say, you should know that like these other topics, pilots will beat the dead horse ad nauseam;

whats the best luggage?
what’s the best shoes?
best uniform pieces?
nb ca vs WB fo?
Boeing vs Airbus?
Airline A vs. B?

It’s simply a sign of the times. Our careers are light years if when we were sucking the dark decade, and many of the newer entrants will NEVER know what that like.

So, pilots will Bytch/complain/debate the most trivial of things….

 

This. Commuted for 37 years and wouldn’t change a thing if I had to do it again.

 

The first day I didn’t commute I said I’ll never commute again. I’m now considering it to stay on my airplane and avoid school for something I don’t feel interested in if I can’t hold WBCA in my base when my ride goes away out of there. I’m not looking to have to do it for more than about a year but it’s on the table.

 

I enjoy these X vs. Y threads because they prove that no answer is absolute... we all value different things at different stages. I’m a SWA captain, and for me, the choice was simple: stay local or move the family. I refuse to commute, and staying put has turned into a very lucrative career move.

I’ll be the first to admit that United has a massive edge in fleet diversity and rapid seniority movement within the narrow-body ranks. If you hate the 737, United's fleet flexibility is something we just can't match, and that shouldn't be discounted. I actually missed the cut at United years ago after failing the Hogan, and while I briefly considered reapplying during our 2022 meltdown, the math didn't add up. Even with a quick upgrade at United, walking away from my seniority and progress at SWA would have meant leaving millions of dollars on the table over the course of my career.

The fundamental difference between our two pilot groups is how we approach the "game." At United, the goal seems to be the highest pay for the least amount of work and the highest pilot count. At Southwest, we are grinders. We actually start grumbling if we’re overstaffed because it would kill the premium flying. In fact, one of the gains in our contract is that we forced the company to offer premium flying if the first day of the trip goes across the reserve RAP and not allow them to break it up to use reserves instead if there are legal premium bidders for the whole trip. My "worst" month at SWA was around 125 TFP, which is still 30% over the typical line award. Throughout my career, even as a junior CA, I’ve averaged over 150 TFP monthly, and the real players here regularly clear 200+ without hitting FAR limits. As a SWA FO, I was regularly out-earning my junior UAL 737 captain buds. As a captain now here, it's not even in the same league, especially when you take into account seniority and even SWA junior pilots ability to credit big numbers... but my UAL buds can change fleets and virtually work for a different airline simply by changing fleet while a SWA pilot is in the same grind. As I said, this cannot be discounted.

Of course, if I don't want to work and have zero interest in anything beyond my line, at SWA I'll have 17-20 days off per month and do something else. The only way we have 15 days off per month is you are on reserve as our regular lines are built to have 17 to 20 days off per month. If you have 12-14 days off, you're picking up extra work as a reserve or a line holder.

One last thing, our contractual flexibility is also a big differentiator that is often overlooked in these comparisons. We can trade across the entire system regardless of domicile or line holder vs. reserve pilot restrictions; for instance, an LAX pilot can swap his four-day trip for say a MDW pilot’s reserve block, or we can just go see what other pilots across the system are giving away. It's not uncommon for say pilots on the West Coast to give away their Hawaii flying and someone from our midwest bases would commute to fly their 4 day Hawaii trip while the West Coast guy chases premium flying. This is one of the few benefits of having a single fleet type.

I do think UAL pilots live much more of an airline pilot life than SWA pilots. At SWA, it's a narrowbody grind no matter how you slice it, but SWA pilot will generally out-earn his UAL counterpart, or if they don't pick up extra, they'll generally have more time off the hook.

 

One just has to look at the earnings threads. There are dumptruck loads of cash to be made everywhere. And plenty of time off. The main delineator nowadays is what you’re doing at work to earn that dolla.

 

I’ve said this for years , 737 vrs 737 SWA guys have out earned us for time worked. We have some serious earners here at UAL no doubt (not counting wide body guys), but the average joe SWA has us beat, but they work for it.
the average UAL pilot hears about more than two leg days in a day and it’s an instant PDR to the union to complain 😁 but that life style ain’t for everyone


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