e6bpilot

APC is a terrible place to try and get the info you want right now. Everything is being tainted by contract negotiations, which are going terribly. This pilot group is angry, and rightfully so.

The info you seek is best found in actually talking to folks who are doing it. I can tell you as a bit of a former Floridian myself, most everyone based there lives on the I-4 corridor or the space coast. Very few south Floridians find that commute palatable. Many of them do Houston or Baltimore for frequency and seniority. The MCO base is perennially senior with a bit of a junior bubble on the FO side. That being said, if you have something else going on in the sunshine state and absolutely need to live there, you will be able to drive to work. Having moved away and gotten some distance from the place, I wouldn't personally want to do that drive every week, but it exists.

If I were in your shoes, I would seek out someone who is based there and talk to them about it. Ask hard questions. Put drive times into Google maps at various times of day. Remember that many SWA trips start at 4am. Others end at 1:30am. Now picture yourself trying to make that drive work.

Touchdown7

correct. You’re better off at AA, or UAL. I think UAL either has or will have MCO base shortly. Also, MCO upgrade is a VERY VERY long wait. The plug captain on the MCO list has been here over 15 YEARS!! 15 years to just get on the list and fly AM weekend reserve! So if you want to stay in Florida and drive to work, it will cost you millions in lost pay, and retirement at SWA, vice what you could have elsewhere. Think about that.

🔥 👇🏻

Vettekid

Not being an investment basket has cost me millions as well. Lots of jobs out there that pay better. If I can't live on an FO salary I've got other problems that need addressed. And I have friends at united and AA that aren't happy there either.

Vettekid

I would be within an hour drive max. Family is all within that distance, furthest being ocala (in not going to live there!).

Crockrocket95

Hey im talking about the CURRENT new hires. They've been shoving 30-40 new hires in each month to MCO. So at the current trend yes.

Also yeah consolidation month(s) are hardlines, so you'll get at least 1 full month of hard lines until youre cast to the reserves. Which may only be 1 or 2 months at the current hiring and implantation rates. Obviously if vacancy bids shrink in MCO you'll see longer reserve bids...

SlipKid

This, exactly.........

MCO is where seniority goes to die. The progression up the CA list is very slow. Every time a pilot retires, another senior guy with 5 years left prepositions for retirement. It's been that way for every one of the 22 years I've been an MCO capt, and I don't see it changing anytime soon, unless there is significant change in the political climate here.

More than a few on the top of the FO list can be relatively senior CAs in MCO and senior in almost every other domicile.

Someone else mentioned the traffic.

They are building homes on every single square inch of available space in FL, with very little in the way of road infrastructure improvements to accommodate the exponential increase in traffic.

What is an hour drive now will become significantly longer in the near future.

I commuted from SWFL to MCO for 18 years. The unfettered overdevelopment is the reason we finally moved to within an hour of MCO. The commute was not only getting significantly longer, it finally became untenable when I couldn't get out of the county in time to make it to work. What was a 2:45 drive in the middle of the night was already averaging 4 hours on the way up in the daytime, and that was before I-75 (the only route out of the county) was shutting down almost daily. I can't imagine dealing with the I-4 corridor going to work these days. It's gotten exponentially worse since I stopped driving it and I was only on it for 17 miles or so. Even 417 is a goatrope these days.

Sadly, the same nonsense is happening up here now. My only hope is that it doesn't reach critical mass before I retire.

Dahflyboy18

Current junior lineholder for September is a 4/2022 hire. The more new hires the longer on RSV. At least 12-16mo from DOH to holding a hard line for any new hire.

Yungpilot

Thank you all! Good info. I’m in Fort Lauderdale and was banking on being able to use the new bright line train to alleviate the driving at times. May just be better to commute to BWI.

ZapBrannigan

I've ridden that train from Miami to West Palm before. It's a NICE ride. Way nicer than any airplane cabin. I like that idea a lot! Hope it works out for you!

Stitches

Does it operate 24/7? It will have to in order to be a reliable ride to/ from work otherwise you will need to ride in the night before or the morning after a trip. If you’re doing that, you might as well commute to Bwi for the additional seniority.