Portland, OR

[coolyokeluke]

West Linn and Lake Oswego have excellent schools and are very popular communities for families.

Feel free to PM me for further info.

West Linn or Lake Oswego on first year pay? Beverly Hills is nice too.

 

[Buckaroo]

PDX is a very Liberal minded city - full of hippies and dope smoking tree huggers.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

West Linn or Lake Oswego on first year pay? Beverly Hills is nice too.

You don't know the real estate market here that well. You can still find some decent buys. We bought our place when I was a regional FO. It's gone up about 50% since then but you can still find homes in the 200-300K price range. If the gentleman who started this thread uses a mortgage that offers a low fixed rate for the first 3-5 years of the loan he could buy a 300K home and have mortgage payment of around 1200 a month.

Visit www.RMLS.com and select SFR's in Lake O and West Linn for under 300K and see what you come up with.

Like anything else you get what you pay for. Lake O and West Linn are highly desirable and will appreciate nicely in the future. If you buy a place out in the sticks your results may vary.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

PDX is a very Liberal minded city - full of hippies and dope smoking tree huggers.

You'll still find a few intolerant rednecks around here so you might feel right at home.

 

[flx757]

I will agree that the PDX/SEA commute is extremely difficult. The Dash-8-200s seem to be restricted to about 34 pax (which eliminates the jumpseat altogether) and there are A LOT of people competing for these seats, not to mention positive space deadheading QX crewmembers.

I will also agree that the cost of living in Seattle is high, but as far as the weather goes...it's pretty much the same in Portland as it is here, except the ice storms seem MUCH worse there along the Columbia River basin.

One other consideration. If you are in the Dec class at Alaska, you will not be based in Seattle...so you will initially be commuting to either ANC or LAX, if that weighs into your decision.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

I don't do the PDX-SEA commute but I occasionally non-rev to spend a day in SEA. It can be a tough commute but if you allow yourself extra time to drive if the flights don't work out then it's not too bad. Last time I did it QX started cancelling flights and an AS FO that was also trying to get up to SEA offered me a ride in his car. Not sure if I would have made it up there otherwise. Still a 3 hour driving commute is better than practically any commute that involves non-revving.

If I was offered a job at AS I'd probably move up to SEA. Some of the outlying areas aren't too much more than real estate down here and you only have to drive to the airport once a week typically. Plus the sailing in SEA rocks compared to messing around on the Columbia.

 

[AK737FO]

Welcome to HeII

MSMB,
I offer you a bit of advice before you make a costly mistake. Do you love your family? Do you want to be home with them more than 11 days a month? Do you like the idea of driving several hours per work day at todays fuel prices and on your New Hire pay? There is really only one answer to the above questions - Live in (or darn near) your base!

I have many friends in PDX who fly for Alaska and commute to SEA. Some of them are senior and get pretty good schedules. They still have to drive to SEA most of the time which sucks up time, money and vehicle wear and tear. QX is just to much of an unknown now - they have found that it is usually not worth the effort, just get in the car and drive.

The other batch of friends are living in PDX and on reserve in SEA. These guys are "livin the dream"! They are converted from R (4 hour call) to A (2 hour call) about 99% of the time because we are very short staffed in SEA. This has been going on for about 6 to 7 years, so don't count on it getting better any time soon. So these guys get to "position" themselves so they are two hours away from the jet on their reserve days. That means getting up at 0400 (start of a zone), kissing the wife goodbye, getting in the car and driving about an hour north to some little town where you will spend the next 12 hours sitting in your car, walking through the park, drinking coffee till you pee blood, find all the "wy-fy" hot spots in town to waste time on the web, and so on, until it is about 1600, 3 hours till the end of your zone - then you can drive home.

But wait, there's more! What if you get the vampire zone as a new hire? On call from 1500 to 0600. That means you get to kiss the wife and kids goodbye at about 2 in the afternoon each day, mount your trusty commuter car and burn some gas as you drive your way to the above mentioned town. Of course now you get to spend the night sitting in your car, (there is no way you can afford a MOTEL on what you will earn your first year here) until about 0400 - at which time it is safe to drive back home without fear of a getting called out. How long can you do that schedule before you loose your mind due to lack of sleep? How long till the wife and kids get tired of Dad being gone 20 nights a month?

I am not kidding you here. There are guys on reserve in PDX who do this every day. They actually want a trip, they want to fly as much as possible so they don't have to do this game. The real sad thing is that they put themselves through this by their own choosing. Granted, our reserve system stinks (in SEA) but if you lived in your base a two hour call is really nothing to get worked up about - unless you happen to get called out right in the middle of SEA rush hour.

I have no idea what LAX reserve is like. ANC reserve is WONDERFUL and can actually go "senior" some months. We fly 10 to 20 hours a month, we do not get "converted" from R to A (maybe once a month). It is a completely different airline up here. Commuting from PDX or SEA to ANC is not a good idea though - way to much of your time wasted flying up and down the coast, cost of ANC crash pad, car, the list goes on... Live in your base!

Good luck to you, I wish you the best, and "welcome aboard"
AK737FO

 

[flx757]

That is most excellent advice from someone who knows (and I will echo all of it, from someone who has done both the commute and seen how much of a toll it takes on your life, and who has lived in base and experienced how great life can be because of it. You cannot put a dollar figure on that...)

 

[mach none]

I moved almost two years ago and have been wondering why it took us so long to figure this out. Living in base is wonderful...provided you are not in Newark.

You may want to wait until you finish training before you contemplate any more stress like moving. Also, we should be entering a period of growth or at least some movement due to retirements. You should be able to get SEA within the year.

I can say that commuting sucks. The planes are full. Factor in WX, cancellations and next thing you know, you are driving, calling in sick (risky on probation) or driving. Get through training, give it sometime. Talk to the guys on the line, than make your decision.

What is the Amtrak Act? I have never heard of this.

 

[Buckaroo]

You'll still find a few intolerant rednecks around here so you might feel right at home.

There's also a lot of Bedwetting Liberal A$$holes, so you must feel right at home.