jollygreensg

I live in Fresno CA,

Looking at applying at airlines but wondering how commuting is to either LAX area or up north. Is it hard, how much time are you away from home, do you have an apartment elsewhere as well as home?

labbats

Skywest and only skywest if I were you.

aerospacepilot

Commuting FAT to LAX would not be too bad.

There are 12 flights a day between Skywest and American Eagle. Mostly EMB-120's and Saab-340's. There is a 5:10am flight that gets in at 6:09am on a CRJ. That could be useful for a same day commute with an early show. The one thing to watch out for on the EMB's and Saab's are weight restrictions. Generally those flights get weight restricted, so they may go out full with 27 people on the EMB (even though they hold 30). So be aware. Also, I would be prepared to drive in a pinch.

Commuting to SFO would be similar. Fewer flights (7 on Skywest), and also a short 3 hour drive in a pinch.

SLC, PHX, and DEN are not too bad either.

Pretty much anywhere else, be ready for a two leg commute. And apparently two leg commutes suck.

If you live in FAT, you probably want to look at either Skywest (big base in Fresno), or maybe Expressjet or American Eagle in LAX. I don't think there are many other good options.

mia389

Like labbat said, Skywest. I live in the bay area and commute to MSP. Im only home maybe twice a month and only for a couple of days. Been like that for the last year. We just had a baby a couple of months ago and it really really sucks. Sometimes it can be a 4 hour flight going east. Also changing a couple of time zones makes it hard to commute in on the same day your trip starts. If I could do things over again I would of went to Skywest.

Av8trxx

You'd think. However, it is not always as easy as it may seem. I fly with some guys that do that commute and more than ever before they are waiting half the day trying to get on. AE is full at 28-30 people (always weight restricted, depends on bags/kids) and Skywest is often about the same.

Your best bet would definitely be a FAT base with Skywest.
If you end up commuting, hope your airline has a commuter policy just in case.

skid

IF you have to commute. Pick an airline that allows you to commute to your own timezone!!!! I commute from west coast to MSP. The time change kills my schedule!! I commonly leave my house 18-24 hours before I have to be there because of flight schedules and heavy flight loads.

Koolaidman

Yeah, I would definitely hold out for SkyWest. The FAT base is the most junior on the EMB. I think my buddy is 50% up the list on RJ FO. RJ CA is very senior. Anyways, being able to drive to the airport is worth waiting for. We are still interviewing for the pool... right?

TwinTurboPilot

Commuting is the devil, dont care how short or how light loads are i still hate it. Just my opinion though

flyfresno

I'm based in FAT and live in Fresno, and I would say go for SKW! If you get the bro you'll be based here right off the bat, like the others said. I'm on the jet and it took me 4 months of commuting to MKE to get based back here...not too bad. It's actually a really easy two leg commute, if you can say two leg commutes are easy. I always went through LAS, worked out well every time. Flights to MKE from out West tend to be more open and more on time in general than those going to ORD, even though there are MANY more flights to ORD. LAX is a fairly easy commute, you have one CRJ going there at 5:00 AM that is always open, as well as 2 CRJs coming back (one around 9pm and the other around 11pm), which are usually open but can fill up at times. As for SFO, one CRJ-700 going there in the morning, also always open (there were all of 8 people on it the other day). FedEx has one flight to/from OAK each day as well. All the other flights to/from LAX are on Bros or Saabs (AE or SKW), and SFO is all Bro besides that one flight in the morning on the -700. Still, LAX would probably be easier. More flights direct to LAX than SFO, and there are also two flights to LGB and one flight to ONT on XJet, as well as a daily UPS flight to ONT. Between all those, you would probably be just fine. Still I agree with everyone else that you should go for SKW, I love it here and being based at home beats commuting any day. I know we aren't hiring on the jet right now, but you could always take a year on the Bro and then transition to the jet. You would have enough seniority at that point to stay in FAT as an FO. Commuting sucks no matter where you go, even if it's to LAX. But LAX is definitely an easier commute. Let me know if you have any questions, I was in your position a couple years ago and would be glad to answer any questions you have.

ANPBird

I have had the most luck commuting into FAT from LAX. Had a problem only twice, once going through SFO (delays and WX out of ORD got me in to late for a full flight) and the other through LAX but that was during the Ag Expo and everything in/out of FAT sucked for a week. Its all really not that bad. Now the LAX-ORD-LAX or SFO-ORD-SFO can be the real killer. I have logged lots of time in the jumpseat of 757's.