Commuting from Seattle
 

Hello everyone,

Current military pilot looking for some feedback from UPS pilots on commuting from Seattle area. I would love to not commute so Delta or Alaska would be ideal but they haven't called. I currently have interviews at UPS and American so looking into QOL commuting from the Seattle area. I would love to get UPS 747 out of indoc and commute to Anchorage, but I think that is very unlikely especially with me being a fighter background. Anyone got any experience/opinions on this or would going to AA and commuting to LAX/PHX be better QOL?

Interview at both.

Take the first job that is offered.

If you get a subsequent offer, then you have a decision to make,

Until this happens, don't worry about "which is better"

but to answer your question, commuting:

SEA to ANC is easy.

SEA to LAX is not bad

SEA to PHX is not too bad

SEA to SDF is not great but doable.

If you got hired by UPS and assigned to SDF, you could get ANC when your seat lock is up (2 years). You would not get the 747 SDF as a new hire, but there is a possibility of 747 ANC

Right now UPS puts fighters into “light” classes which would likely be a 75/76 or A300 out of SDF. Very few get ONT or MIA out the gate, and only people with an extensive heavy background get assigned an MD or -74 out of training. I know lots of people who happily commute to/from SEA as over 70% of ANC -74 guys commute. Good luck at the interviews and Brown is a great place to work!

Not to be the "ackshually" meme guy, but the 14.E.c newhire transition freeze (ie. seatlock) is 18 months.

thanks for keeping me honest.

Counterpoint: Commuting SEA ANC is “easy” about half the time. During high season (summer) and other high travel times (winter break, spring break), flights are very full and commuting via offline jumpseat can be quite difficult. There are no “browntails” that operate BFI ANC (with the exception of cherry season which is short & can be unpredictable), and FedEx no longer operates its weeknight 777 up from SEA (moved to OAK). Many of us prefer to buy tickets during peak times, but this can get expensive. Conversely, you do have the option to commute to SDF or ONT on company airplanes. I actually gave serious consideration to moving to the SDFZ domicile, partly for this reason. Why did I stay in ANC? Well, I still think the benefits, particularly conflict bidding, outweigh the downsides. Bottom line, commuting to UPS out of Seattle is definitely doable & far easier than many commutes, but as with anything, there are tradeoffs and the ANC commute is not necessarily as easy as it may seem.

As an aside, as a mil guy in Seattle I’m guessing you’re a C-17 bubba (apologies if wrong). If so, you have a very good chance of getting a 747 class. No guarantees at this place though. When I was hired I was current on the 74, had flown Boeings all my life, and lived 45 minutes from ONT. They hired me into the MD-11 in SDF. 😐

P.S.: Currently sitting in the Centurion Lounge in SeaTac on my way to ANC as I write this so I have a pretty good handle on the topic. Also living in the South Sound area & happy to answer further questions if you have them. Feel free to DM.

Probably a Whidbey Hornet pilot, he said he flew fighters so no 747 for him as a newhire.

Guy at my Ontario crash pad got Ontario in training. He lived in Seattle and had no issues commuting down. To add to others, your fleet assignment can be a crap shoot. In my class, we had a current MD operator with 3k hours in the plane get the "light twin" a300 out of SDF.

Ahhh. Missed that somehow.

If I lived in SEA and commuted to ANC, I would just buy tickets during the summertime. Yet is is $$ but eliminates the stress of getting to work.