sherpster

Hello,

Anybody commute from Columbus Ohio? If hired (just passed the Hogan), I would be looking at commuting from Columbus or moving to another location in Ohio and being within a 4 hour drive from ORD.

Recently retired from the military and just completed training with a cargo outfit out of CVG. That's an easy 2 hour drive to get to work. 17 days on minimum and it is never less. 1st year pay sucks there but new contract is eventually coming. Allegedly will be able to upgrade in a few years. I have only been there for a few months but there seems to be a lot of unknowns in the acmi world.

I tell you smart guys this because I have no clue about the pain of commuting and just wanted to get some united specific insight. I have a bud who commutes from Denver to klax and he makes it sound super easy due to the long call rules.

Thanks in advance

pilotgolfer

Working ACMI is far more painful than the worst commute to a major. If you can drive to a United domicile where you are based...do it. I flew for Evergreen while I was furloughed and I would not wish that job on my worst enemy. (They are now out of business, anyways. That's not uncommon for the ACMI world).

cadetdrivr

This. This. This.

Congrats on passing the Hogan, the odds are now strongly in your favor.

I also flew ACMI (in the '90s prior to UA) and it's an entirely different universe. Even if UA does not work out keep applying at majors.

130drvr

I flew ACMI out of CVG as well after leaving the military. It was slowly shortening my life. The backside of the clock flying, the long work blocks, the low pay, the sketchy work rules. Yeah, they promised us quick upgrades, and I did, only to be bumped back to FO after losing a contract.

There are ways to make your commute easier. Long call rules allow for flexibility, i.e. sitting LC from home, aggressively picking up a trip to know what your commute looks like, etc. Short call could mean driving to a Starbucks halfway to ORD and hanging out. You can also bid for reserve blocks to reduce number of commutes. I did that when hired, three 6 day blocks a month. You need to think in terms of SFO and EWR at first as they are the junior bases. EWR would likely make most sense.

Feel free to PM me.

Mabee201

I commuted from CMH for about 5-6 months. However, as I was the second from the bottom in my new-hire class, only LAX 737 was available. I can tell you the CMH-LAX commute was pretty rough, simply because it was so far. It helped tremendously that I had a line my second month out of training, but it sometimes took all day just to get out there and back. I'm in ORD now, but I have since moved to Chicago to avoid the commute.

I would suspect you could hold ORD within your first year. Long call does make it possible for you to sit at home during RSV, but you could easily be converted to short call, and if it happens late in the evening, you're running the risk of not being available for short call, unless you plan to drive it through the night. We do have the ability to 'agressive pick up' trips the day before a RSV period/day, so as long as there are trips available, you can pick up trips that fit into your RSV block minus 1 day. For example, if I was on RSV for 4 days, I can pick up a 3-day or 4-day trip. This significantly increased my QOL, as I could actually plan to commute to an actual trip, as opposed to commuting to sit RSV. EWR and DCA are both slightly less senior than ORD, and although I have not checked reserve levels in those bases, I imagine you would be able to hold a line a bit quicker there.

Having said all that, I have talked to a few people doing the CMH-ORD commute, and they all seem to say it's fairly easy. Between UA and AA, there are a lot flights, and it's a short hop. BUT these were all people who were holding commutable lines out of ORD, which makes a big difference. I think as long as you realize for your first year or two, the commute may not be ideal, but with a long-term perspective, one or two years is but a drop in the bucket... unless you're 63 years old. =D Good luck with the interview! I came from the regionals, but I have really enjoyed my time here at UAL, and the crews have been such a pleasure to work with.

sherpster

Thanks everyone for the information.

jumppilot

I commuted from CMH to EWR for 6 years, with a short stint to Houston thrown in there for good measure.

It's not the hardest place to commute from if you get based anywhere near there, as there is usually a direct flight to our hubs.

I tried Cleveland for a year but that didn't work out as I always got short called to a 5am trip and ended up driving up there at 3am. I bid out of CLE for that reason.

This was a couple contracts ago and things may have changed in reserve QOL but I didn't find the commute too terribly bad to EWR on the 756. The more senior you are the less time you spend in crashpads. It's a law of commuting physics.

But a commute sucks no matter how "easy it is."

I now live in base.

sherpster

I received the CJO today. Thanks again for the advice everyone, much appreciated!

Count Dracula

Congrats!


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Half wing

Congrats and welcome!