SEPfield

After commuting the next biggest qol factor is holding a line. You will hold a line much faster in DTW with endeavor. Which gives you the option of maximizing flight time or days off. With a line at endeavor you can probably get 15 days off a month or more, as long as you are on reserve at PSA you will only ever have 11.

Also don't forget about airport standby at PSA. If assigned ready reserve you will need to be in CLT at 5am which means leaving home at 330. If they don't use you then you finish at 1pm and then home at 230pm. You will then be on call again at 5am the next day and possibly make the drive again.

Also consider schedule flexibility. Holding a line at Envdeavor gives you the ability to trade trips with open time and other pilots increasing the chance you will get the days off that you want. Reserve at PSA you can only move a reserve day if that day is adequately staffed.

Although you will possibly have some days at home where you are on reserve at PSA, I think you will find that those days are more stressful due to the fact that in the back of your mind you know you have to be ready to jump in the car at a moments notice.

For me personally I think commuting to Endeavor would provide the better quality of life provided you can hold a line within 1-2 months off of Initial operating Experience OE. You will have more days that are guaranteed off and you will have that certainty of a schedule. Certainty is a big thing. You will get your schedule 2 weeks before the month starts and you can make a plan. Being able to tell your spouse and kids when you will or won't be there is better than saying you might be there and then getting called. Being prior military myself I know that a planned disappointment is easier to swallow than a surprise one.

Just my thoughts

SlickDawg

Great input and VERY helpful, I truly appreciate it.

Lots of excellent advice and I think SEPfield's input resonated the most with me:
If holding a line w/ 9E will give me the flexibility to still achieve ~15 off days a month, then using a few of those days commuting would still give me 11-12 off days. Although PSA is drivable, the scary part is that I might have a 2 leg commute to DAY, TYS, or CVG for 6 months after training since CLT is senior, followed by a LONG time before I am able to attain schedule certainty. One of the selling points I've made to my wife in this deal is that when I am home, I get to take off the work hat as opposed to the last 21 years. But being on constant standby does not give me that.

I am unfamiliar with how short call and ready reserve is assigned. Is that something bid on? How often could I expect to have ready reserve with PSA? How often does someone on short call reserve actually get called up to fly with PSA out of CLT?

WRT Endeavor, is DTW preferable to New York? How long is reserve right now with each and are both bases achievable right after training?
Once you hold a line, does that mean you will no longer do reserve? Does Endeavor provide any reimbursement for commuting hotels?

I realize that looking for any certainty in this business is a pipe dream, but I'm a research super freak and am sincerely grateful for all of your input.

Five93H

Not sure on what is easier, I'd take a look at flightaware and check flights going to DTW v say LGA.
Reserve in DTW 200 is one month currently. NYC 200, when it opens, could be quick.

Once you are off reserve, it would take backwards movement to go back on reserve. With the growth in New York, that shouldn't be a worry right now.

chrisreedrules

It really is almost like having 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Both choices have positives and negatives. Sit down and write them down on a piece of paper. Show them to your wife, and ask her opinion. Make a decision based on what is ultimately going to make your family happiest. Because as anyone who is married knows, if wife ain't happy, nobody is.

tennisguru

Check your PM's

Rmk1991

I am on reserve at my airline. At literally any other base I would be a line holder at over 50% of the base's seniority list. In one of them I'd be top like 8 percent. In my current base I am the most junior person. I commuted to a different base to try having a line instead of being at home on reserve and it was absolutely not worth it. I definitely flew more and credited more than I am now, but I spent a lot more time away from home. I spent like maybe 9 days at home that month due to getting bumped by mainline people, missed flights and canceled flights due to weather. I ended up having to stay 2 extra nights away from home because i couldn't make it back. Reserve life sucks where I work but being home based and able to drive to and from work makes all of the difference. You said money isn't a super big issue to you but the at home time you'll spend with your family will offset that. Plus iirc you have a pension as well that will cushion that first year pay at PSA.

mossback

Hey Slick I was just recently faced with this same choice, PSA or Endeavor. Endeavor was very, very tempting even though I live in CLT. But in the end I chose PSA. I think it will be nice playing for the home team. Class date coming up soon; hope I'm right!

Arvik

This is a tough call, but I'd lean toward Endeavor for the following reason:

You've got military experience, which gives you a nice leg up on the competition when it comes to applying for jobs down the line. It's not inconceivable that either a major or an LCC would be interested in picking you up sooner rather than later after you got some 121 time under your belt. So you may not be at a regional for all that long.

Let's say you only have to spend a year at either PSA or Endeavor before leaving for greener pastures. At Endeavor, you'll be commuting for that year. At PSA, you'll still probably be commuting for six months because you won't be able to hold CLT for that time. And that commute is going to suck, because it either means a two-leg commute or having to make the 1.5 hour drive to CLT so that you can make the flight to DAY/CVG/TYS. So you're comparing six months at home on reserve to six months commuting. And then you've got the schedule flexibility of having a line. There are people in DTW on the -200 who are holding lines with 16 days off per month six or seven months after starting training. Meanwhile, while you might be home more nights in CLT, you'll likely be flying a lot, which means that you'll be making that 1.5 hour drive a lot, which negates some of the advantage.

And when it comes time to apply to majors, by being outside AA's umbrella you'll actually have a chance at getting on with them. It's not a big chance at the moment, but it's better than the 0% chance you have if you're at PSA since they don't take people outside the currently very long flow order (someone correct me if this has changed).

TL;DR: Your QOL will be better being on reserve at CLT, but not by as much as you might think, and your QOL before being able to hold reserve at CLT will really suck compared to being on reserve and then holding a line in DTW (or NYC once the -200s arrive). I'd go to Endeavor, but I'd understand if you went to PSA.

Five93H

Do whatever you can to avoid commuting, or to have the easiest commute possible. It's a different job when you get in your car after your last leg and drive home.

amcnd

No commute.. Easly the most important QOL item. I did a commuted for 6 years. Then in home town base for 13 years now. Rule one. Never commute for a regional...