Question about commuting when flying for regionals

[WestHouston]

Ok, I'm a flight instructor now but I'll probably start applying to the regionals in a few months. Here's my dilemma:

I rent a house now, but my wife and I want to buy one. We live in the Houston area which currently has amazing houses that we would not be able to afford anywhere else in the country that we would want to live.

We would like to buy a house now, but if I get a job at an airline that stations me somwhere else, how hard is commuting by jumpseating? I know while I'm on reserve I'll be gone most of the time but what about after that? A friend that flys for expressjet told me don't move for the airlines but I'd like some other input.

Is it a big deal to fly out of a city you don't live in? I mean living in/around Houston, you'd think getting flights would be no problem.

Any imput would be greatly appreciated.

WH

 

[regionalcap]

Get that friend to get you on at Expressjet so you can be based in Houston.

 

[WestHouston]

Get that friend to get you on at Expressjet so you can be based in Houston.

Lol, believe me I'm on it. However, I realize it would be naive to put all my eggs in one basket. If I were to get a job at Skywest, who has no Houston domicile, how hard would it make my life to commute?

 

[Axel]

Thousands do it. It is stressful and requires planning but it can be done. Some elect to move to their base, but bases open and close so there's no guarantee you won't end up a commuter anyway if you do that.

Find where you want to live and live there. If that is in base, then good for you. If you have to commute, you can make it work. Good luck.

 

[WestHouston]

Thousands do it. It is stressful and requires planning but it can be done. Some elect to move to their base, but bases open and close so there's no guarantee you won't end up a commuter anyway if you do that.

Find where you want to live and live there. If that is in base, then good for you. If you have to commute, you can make it work. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice! Thats kinda where I was leaning, but I just wanted a couple of other opinions.

 

[DrewBlows]

Commuting sucks no matter how you look at it. Any time you commute you can expect to spend half a day commuting, which means at any regional you can expect to spend two to three days per month commuting. Lets look at it from a financial standpoint.

If you live in base, instead of commuting, you could pick up open time two to three days per month at premium pay (depending on your work rules) and still have the same amount of time at home. If you picked up an average of four hours each day you would make an extra eight to twelve hours each month and 96 to 144 hours each year. At first year pay ($23) you would be giving up between $2208 and $3312 per year. At second year pay ($34) you would be giving up between $3264 and $4896 per year. This doesn't take into account a crash pad and crash pad car, which you may or may not need (when I commuted this cost me about $200 per month). Is the housing in Houston that much better than somewhere else? Even if you don't ever pick up open time you will have two to three more days to make sure the FedEx man isn't delivering too many packages to your wife while you are gone. Just kidding.

Everyone has their own agenda, but in my opinion commuting doesn't make a lot of sense at the regional level. It's doable, but it will cost you a lot of money and/or time. It's a different story for long haul pilots who generally start in the evening and finish in the morning on five to 7 day trips. They spend much less time commuting and are paid a much greater premium to commute.

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

Communting will cost you your marriage in all likely hood. Don't do it. Besides losing your wife it will cost so much money for hotels and such that it will be a totally losing propostion. And after you've lost everything I've already mentioned, you may lose your job too for missing a trip or two.

In short: Don't do it. Move so you can drive to work. It's the only way.

 

[Mickey]

Don't commute. Just be patient and keep trying to get that job in your town.

Good luck.

 

[svcta]

Here's what I learned from my time at the regionals:

Yes, commuting sucks, but if you like where you are it's not a job that's worth moving for. My carrier opened and closed 2 or 3 domiciles in as many years leaving more than a few crews holding the bag.

Unless your wife makes far better money that you will for the next few years, reconsider the home ownership. Owning a house would have left me with a bullet in my head while I was a CRJ pilot. There's just not enough $$ to cover it at 25-30K/yr. I once felt some pressure to buy a house for whatever reason, but I am far better off having waited a couple of years to do it. Especially while you have an 'entry level' job. Working for the airlines can be a life altering affair, good and bad. See how it treats you first.

Crashpad cost me 100 bucks/month on average and far more after I started crashing with an F.A. that I nailed for a year. However, even after that experience it was nice to walk away from that base when I left that airline. Crashpad money for as long as it takes to get a commutable sched. is worth the 'investment'.

Considerations for commuting:

Weather--where you live and where you're based. If your flying that commute then you WILL sacrifice days to the commuting gods from time to time. Find out if your prospective carrier has a commuter clause of some kind.

Commuting traffic-- do you live in a large domicile for a major carrier? Seniority's a b!tch, especially when you ain't got none or you're offline. Jumpseast is first come, first served, but if you have to go as a non-rev then seniority kicks in. Consider who'll you'll have to ride on to get to/from work and find out how many of their own guys are routinely looking for a ride.

Typical schedule--do you regularly start early and finish early? Or start early and finish late? Does your new company offer later reserve duty so that you can commute in same day and try to get 1st out?

It can be done, weather or not it's right for you is only up to you. I wouldn't have moved for my regional job and I'm glad that I didn't now. Among other things it just makes it harder to seize a better opportunity when it comes along. I used to fly with guys who had painted themselves in to that classic corner: "Well, we've got a house here now, and I've got some seniority, and Sheena's made head hostess at the Cracker Barrel, so we don't want to move and I don't want to commute so I'll just stay here for 10 more years." Seriously, I had a conversation very similar to that far more than once.

 

[Junkflyer]

Housing prices are on the decline so I wouldn't be in a big hurry right now. As said before, commuting sucks.