Latest Vacancy Bid at SWA, & other news

[skirt]

Coop,

A bunch of our guys (UAL) have to sit reserve and cover all three airports OAK/SJC/SFO. Most commuters have a car and stay in crashpads in Burlingame (south of SFO) for about $150 a month. There is a van service called "Bayporter" that used to run hourly service from SFO to OAK and back for $14. A cab ride is $30. These prices might be a bit out dated.

As of a week ago there is BART service to/from SFO (subway). It is not a direct ride from SFO to OAK, but it can be done. I do not know the fare, my guess would be $6.

I do not know of any UAL crashpads in OAK area. Anyplace that would have low enough rent for a crashpad would not be a place you would want to live. There is an area of nice apartments in Dublin, about 20 minutes east of OAK, that a bunch of guys could split into a crashpad. My husband is a firefighter in Dublin, so I know the area fairly well. There is a BART station in Dublin, two stops to OAK. The BART does not run directly to OAK airport, but there is a BART bus that goes from the station to the airport. Let me know if you want me to get you apartment complex phone numbers.

Skirt

 

[LearAv8r]

I commuted from FLL to OAK and took red eyes and went home between trips last month. Had a three on and three off schedule. Spent about a day and a half at home and then headed out to the wet coast. JB was great and while the commute was long I was able to get home at 5:45am and had almost two days at home really.

The idea of going from SFO to OAK was not really an option for me even though there are more flight out of SFO. Mainly because the BART system. I think there was a bus ride involved and a train ride and then another bus ride or something like that. I read an article about how the BART just recently opened up a direct link to the OAK and SFO airports or something like that.

With the way that the loads were I found it hard to jumpseat off line. I didn't want to go to SFO and hope for a flight and then not get a seat because they were full. There are two hotels in OAK. the Days Inn and the Ramada. Both in the same area, kind of not safe. The rates were like 45 a night out the door. I have hear of some guys that were using hotels.com and getting 35 a night at three stars hotels.

If in a jam there is always the crew room for a few hours....coming east coast to west coast was a piece of cake. going east was hard. I know that JB has some flights out of JFK that might help. They were real nice and helpful.....not to mention the Terra Blues!!

either way the commute gets old after a while and if you are at the end of the seniority list with no new classes behind you I can see where some guys just stay out there. There are a lot of cool places to go and lots of things to do out in CA.

good luck and hang in there eventually you will get to where you want to go.....

I know of someguys that did the commute from the east to west for over a year.....hats off to those guys.....

Lear-

 

[Snoopy58]

English,

I don't think I've ever heard of anybody commuting each day to sit reserve, probably because the time frame is too long. If you have an AM RAP (reserve availability period), you have to be able to make a checkin for the first flight of the day, which would require getting into the airport before the first SWA flight lands. If you have a PM RAP, you'll be on call at least long enough to crew the last scheduled departure, and generally for a few hours beyond that (so you'd be legal to fly that last flight even if it's running late); even if the schedulers cut you loose to jumpseat home on that last flight, it would have to be going to YOUR home.

The actual RAP's are posted times, and they vary somewhat, but they're something like 0400-1900 for an AM RAP and 1100-0200 for a PM RAP. What that means is that your phone can ring at 0400 or 1100, you are at the airport checking in 2 hours later, and pushing back an hour after that. Or sooner, if things get crunched. But, in this scenario, you'd be checking in at 0600, which is earlier than most SWA flights depart, and a good bit earlier than they start landing.

You CAN generally commute in the same day for a PM RAP, or home the last day of an AM RAP (unless your name is Mike, that is).


BTW, I edited the class date in the first post of this thread -- the fine pilot who is currently holding up the entire totem pole of BWI F/O's pointed out that their class began 4/21, not on 5/2 as is showing in Maestro. Thanks!

Snoopy

 

[OakRBust]

That west coast east coast thing really is tough but well worth it.
I was commuting from Oak to DTW for two+ months. I went to LAS and took NWA or AWA redeyes most of the time.

Once I did go to sfo. It was really easy. Take Air Bart to the OAK Colliseum. I think it was 1.25 or 1.50. Then you take the Bart to SFO. (Around 5.00 bucks) Total trip time is probably about an hour. I guess it could be a little more of you just miss a departure. I asked the information booth about a cab ride and was told it is about 75.00 Bucks.

One thing to be said.... The people in OAK were awesome. I had a lot of freaking fun there in those two plus months. I aint gonna miss the commute, but I am gonna miss the folks!


I hope MDW is 1/2 as much fun!!!


Oak

 

[w8n4swa]

OAK lodging...

Hello All,

I concur with Mike about staying in OAK with less than 4 days off...east coast commuting is exhausting.

My sim partner found a deal at the Holiday Inn for those needing a place to stay in OAK while on reserve. $1500/month for a crash pad split by 8 class mates...that's less than $200 /month... and free transportation to the airport. With our schedules on different times, I'd expect we'll have 2 or 3 of us, at most, staying overnight...2 double beds and a roller bed included. Cheaper than hoteling it alone and you can keep your stuff in the room without checking out every time.

Good luck to our fellow poolies....continue with the backstroke....SWA is well worth W8N4!!