SWA pilot base seniority

[ultrapilot]

Hate Commuting!

"Try not to commute if you can help it!" Those words have been spoken more times than I can count, but that does not stop the fact that some people have to do it. When your wife has a good job and you have kids entrenched in High and Middle School, commuting is the only option.

I am a new hire at SWA that lives in ATL and commutes to OAK. Luckily there is a direct flight on Delta twice a day out of ATL and OAK that helps get me to and from work. The first problem is that it is a 5 hour and 15 minute flight west bound and a 4 hour and 35 minute flight eastbound. The second problem is that whether you are flying AM's or PM's you are probably going to need at least one hotel room before or after your trip due to the flight schedule. That also means that your four days off is now two or your three days off are now one because of the commute.

But thankfully, because of the 101 new pilots below me now, I am being based in PHX in June. That should cut over an hour off my commute each way and and make it easier to come home for my three days off. There are seven flights each way out of ATL on Delta and more with America West. That increases my opportunities to get to work on time but does not protect me under the "commuter policy". If I am lucky I will get MDW or HOU for July and shave even more time off my commute and have more airlines and flights to choose from to get to and from work.

Eventually we will probably move. Besides, who knows where the new domicles will be in the next few years, but I'am willing to bet there will be some.

 

[generaltso]

ultrapilot:
Wouldn't MCO or BWI be your best bet out of ATL? Delta has a lot of flights to both from ATL.

 

[RightBettor]

Hey Ultrapilot:

I used to live in the ATL area... I hear ATL-MCO is a real bi+ch for commuting 'cause of all the DL folks that do the commute. Plus those flights reaaallly tend to fill up with pax... they're all headed to the Mouse Factory down there.

I used to commute from ATL to MDW and the "Citrus" folks always made the commute very easy. Plus the second airport option (ORD w/ a ride on the "L") helps reduce the stress a bit.

RightBettor

 

[RamRise]

Additional options

Don't forget about the freighters for jumpseating - late night, but, always an option.

Bank Air 800-622-9004

Airnet 800-824-6058

US Jets - I don't have their number with me, but, they have direct flights to Chicago from Atlanta. Either Bank Air or Airnet should have their number.

 

[ultrapilot]

Commuting!

You guys are right. BWI and MCO are closer. I only mentioned HOU and MDW because I should be able to get to one of those by July. I would rather have BWI or MCO as my domicle but those bases are months down the road so I am only thinking short term right now.

I did finish the month of April at MCO after IOE with two trips and would love to be based there. Great people, nice new facility, and a short hour and ten minute commute. Like RightBettor said, the problem is that the flights are full. I am not talking a little full, I am talking overbooking by Delta and Airtran on every flight. I could usually get there on the first flight I jumped on but I could not get home.

After I finished a three day trip I got back to MCO and every flight to ATL for the next eight hours and the next morning was overbooked. Twice I ended up flying to another city beyond ATL so that I could fly back to ATL. It took seven or eight hours to finally get to ATL flying and I could have driven it in seven hours. Options are to move to Mouse Land (not an option - see above post), drive over two hours to BHM and catch an SWA flight (increases commute to three and a half hours), drive directly to MCO everytime, or check into jumping on freighters as RamRise mentioned.

BWI, MDW, or HOU would be my best base choices due to the fact that I can be to any one of them within two hours max and one jump. BWI seems to be the natural choice because of the shorter flight time and if they keep building it up I would not stay on reserve long after arriving.

One other note: OAK is a huge FEDEX base that has potenital for commuters.

 

[elcid]

Does anyone have phone numbers for the hotels listed above in Oak (Ramada, Hampton Inn, Days Inn? Thanks in advance!

 

[TR4A]

Does anyone have phone numbers for the hotels listed above in Oak (Ramada, Hampton Inn, Days Inn? Thanks in advance!

http://www.oakpilotbase.com/trans_hotels.htm

Best Western 510-633-0500
Fairfield Inn by Marriott 510-568-1500
Days Inn 510-568-1880
La Quinta 510-632-8900
Hilton 510-635-5000
Clarion 510-562-5311
Holiday Inn Express 510-569-4400
Motel 6 510-638-1180
Park Plaza 510-635-5300
Ramada 510-562-4888

 

[Tejas-Jet]

No crashpads in OAK.. Most stay at the Ramada, Hampton or Days Inn. Ramada was 44.00 a night, Hampton was 54.00 (I think) and not sure about the Days Inn.

Not bad, money wise if your staying only 4 days a month. But if your on reserve..... bad new$

I use to commute offline from DTW - LAX on NWA then ride SWA up to OAK. Sometimes I rode AWA to Phoenix then SWA.

No matter where you stay in the OAK airport area....DON'T...repeat...DON'T walk around the neighborhood....

Bid weekend reserve...you'll fly. Won't have to use all that money on the hotel. Think about it....if you were holding a line, you'd end up flying the weekend anyway.

I commuted a lot on Delta. Always got treated great...good food, nice seats, and pretty F/A's. Many thanks to the Delta pilots for getting meback and forth my one and only month in OAK...I owe you guys plenty of beers.

Tejas

 

[elcid]

Thanks for the quick reply! That was way too easy. Luckily I only have a hard line month in Oak for July and then I'm PHX based.

 

[52560]

Wondering if someone knows the current time to hold each base...similar to the beginning of this thread. THX

 

[TR4A]

Wondering if someone knows the current time to hold each base...similar to the beginning of this thread. THX

Date of hire of the most junior F/O at each base for AUGUST:

BWI 3 MAY 06

DAL 4 MAY 05

HOU 8 MAR 06

MCO 10 MAY 06

MDW 5 APR 06

OAK 7 JUN 06

PHX 17 MAY 06

 

[Uppercrust]

No matter where you stay in the OAK airport area....DON'T...repeat...DON'T walk around the neighborhood....

Bid weekend reserve...you'll fly. Won't have to use all that money on the hotel. Think about it....if you were holding a line, you'd end up flying the weekend anyway.

I commuted a lot on Delta. Always got treated great...good food, nice seats, and pretty F/A's. Many thanks to the Delta pilots for getting meback and forth my one and only month in OAK...I owe you guys plenty of beers.

Tejas

Why? What is around the neighborhood?

 

[Aubie]

just my $.02...

Commuting can be a pain, but if you like where you are stay there - the freedom to live one place and work another is a great bennie of this industry. I live an hour east of Atlanta and fly out of MDW. I have been commuting for a year and a half now and don't regret it a bit.

Commuting out of ATL can be an absolute nightmare. I tried to commute ATL-MCO for 4 months and almost every flight around the weekend is full. ATL is painfull even under the best-case scenario: parking, security, getting to the gates, hoping a seat opens up on a full flight.... trying to commute out of ATL added MUCH stress to commuting. So now I drive 3 hrs to BHM to commute on-line and it is MUCH easier. A little longer in the car isn't fun but much better than the stress involved in going through ATL. There are a lot of variables to how hard commuting is beyond just distance travelled...

And ditto about OAK - USA Today listed the street all the motels are on as one of the 10 most dangerous streets in America a while back. Commuting to OAK can be really painful (but the 360 burrito when you get there helps).

 

[DallasGatr]

No matter where you stay in the OAK airport area....DON'T...repeat...DON'T walk around the neighborhood....

Bid weekend reserve...you'll fly. Won't have to use all that money on the hotel. Think about it....if you were holding a line, you'd end up flying the weekend anyway.

I commuted a lot on Delta. Always got treated great...good food, nice seats, and pretty F/A's. Many thanks to the Delta pilots for getting meback and forth my one and only month in OAK...I owe you guys plenty of beers.

Tejas

You had me up to the pretty F/A's part........

 

[TR4A]

Why? What is around the neighborhood?

I am based in OAK. I have a crashpad in Alameda (a few miles NW of airport).

The hotels are 1-2 miles east of the airport. During the day it is a safe area. At night it could be a little risky. A year or so ago we had a F/O walk to a grocery store down the street and he got mugged not seriously injured. He ended up calling in sick for his trip.

Eight years ago I stayed in the hotels for a few months and I walked to a few places after dark and had no problems. In my eights years in OAK the above incident is the only one I am aware of.

Around my crashpad in Alameda it is very safe area. It does cost more but I do it for quality of life not costs.