commuting vs home base

[spotty4]

Thanks for all the tips, ladies!

GreenMtnGirl ... yes, they must have been in the same class for that first week of indoc. Then your honey went saab and mine when crj-900. Fun! Small world!

A couple of things of note:

Yes, my honey fully intends to have a crash pad. He'll need one for that time on reserve. He'll also need one for when his days off are too short for the commute home. He hasn't figured out what he'll do about a crash pad just yet ... he's got his eyes on FAA check ride and LOFT first.

Also, neither of us are set w/ living in California forever. I've lived here for just about 4 years now and my heart is back in the midwest -- that's where I grew up; that's where family is ... and, incidentally, that's where NWA's hubs are, and have been for a long time. So w/ that in mind, I don't think of our intention to move to a base city as chasing metal. We're not sold on California, and while we're young w/ no kids, we're up for a move if that's what seems best for both of our careers.

Thanks for the tip about the airport employee lot parking pass. He obviously won't be parking at MSP since he'll be commuting there by plane. However, he indicated a pass for SJC will run him about $50/mo. So he'll have that as an option, albeit expensive, if his BART method does not seem to work well enough.

But you're all right ... time will tell to see what works best. Thanks for sharing your experiences so I have something from which to draw.

[Amanda]

Nick was based in many cities when he worked at Mesa and I never 'chased metal'. My job was/is stable and with the way Mesa closed bases I just could count on being in one place. Plus we were willing to deal with the long distance relationship thing for a while. There were peiods where I saw him on a few days a month wihich was hard. Plus he lived with friends he met from class so it wasn't a true crashpad- he knew all of the guys he lived with, plus spent a little extra $ so he wasn't in a dump!

Things happened to work out with him going to Continental since his base is not too far from our families. It allowed him to stay with my sis when he was on reserve (free!). The company where I work is based near PHL so I transferred. And when we have kids it will be nice to have the family and friend support here.

I love and miss AZ (where I lived for 8 years and where we met), but I knew I would end up coming back to the East coast at some point. Things have a way of working out so I know they will for you too!

[czechmate]

My dh commuted for 1 year.
A simple 30 min flight or 4 hr drive to CVG and still we almost got divorced. But we had a new baby and a fairly new marriage on top of it.

I hated that he was gone alot. Bad weather and flight cancellations in December meant that he was home 6 days. When he was home I found it to be more irratating than it was worth. I had a set schedule with the house, kid, my family and friends and he would show up and mess it up (or so I felt).

We moved to CVG since he was offered a checkairman position. We've been here ever since.

I imagine it would have been easier without a new baby, but I don't think we would ever try it again.

Sorry to be so negative, but this was what happened in our situation.
I hope yours works out well!
Jen

[Eastbayk]

Shelley, my husband commutes across the country, with a minimum 2 leg flight. I'm also familiar with the Bay Area b/c I was born and raised there. I think your plan will work in the short term, but it's going to be hard, exhausting and I think in the long run you'll want to relocate closer to an airport. Not necessarily your base, but a place that will make your commute easier.

Here's some things to think about and work out about this potential commute:
If he misses the once daily nonstop out of SJC, how much time is it going to take form him to hop in the car, commute to SFO and catch another one? Is the timing feasible? Are there other options out of SJC- a two leg flight? another carrier? Commuting on another carrier can be difficult b/c you might not have the priority, but it's doable. What if there is really bad traffic on 101 and he misses his flight out of SFO? Is there another airport (fresno?) that he can commute out of?

What if he leaves out of SJC but misses his return flight home? Does he have to wait it out at MSP for another day (that might require extra $ for a hotel room) or does he try to fly into SFO and then find a way to get his car from SJC? What about if he gets in too late to catch BART for the evening to get his car from the lot he left it in?

He's going to have to pay for parking at the lots, that can really add up. (for us it was nearly $150 in parking fees for IOE alone). He can probably get a commuter pass from the Airport Authority for a reduced rate (ours is $100/6 months) but to have to pay that for both airports might get expensive.

He's going to be exhausted! Imagine how he tired he'll be getting up for a 6am show at the airport in MSP, flying a few legs, then commuting home and arriving in at 10pm. And then he has a 70 minute (or more) drive on top of that. And he'll only have 1-2 days off and then have to turn around and do it again. Plus, he's always going to be adjusting to the time change.

I say, iron out all the possiblities now, before he starts commuting. He doesn't want to be standing at airport that first day trying to figure out and reroute. If he already has several options mapped out it will be a lot less stressfull. Same with the routes home, but the end of a trip, he's just going to want to come home and turn his brain off, not spend 3 hours in the terminal trying to figure out how to get from A to B late at night.

As far as living in base- it's nice and it affords a lot of family time, but it always runs the risk of a base closing. Some airlines seem to move people around at will. Others won't move you unless you ask to be traded- find out what kind your company is. The thought of knowing that when your trip ends you are done and don't have to ride on another one to get home is appealing. Sometimes just living NEAR a base is enough. Even if you don't want to move to MSP, if you live anywhere within a 2 hour drive or 1 hour flight, you will probably be happy. Take some time to think about where you might like to live and then explore the options.

Good luck!

Kim