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As most of you know I interviewed with and was hired by Colgan and as of today accepted the offer to fly the Q out of EWR
What I was curious is how commuting actually works, I get it to a certain extent I just want you guys to fill in the gaps.
I just bought a house in southern NH within a 40 mile radius of BOS, MHT and PWM and will be working out of EWR
Being in the first class my seniorty will be in the top 10% of FOs for my airframe so it should enable me to bid a good line. I looked up flights and Xjet offers many flights out of MHT and PWM for an hour and 20 minute flight to EWR, typically 10 flights a day or more.
would a commuter in my situation have a crashpad in EWR and just fly down to EWR the night prior, stay there for the whole trip and fly back at the conclusion? What my thoughts were would be if I could bid a good enough trip with say an early afternoon showtime be able to get up, drive the 35 minutes to MHT, fly to ewr and hop on my plane to fly the trip and then fly back at the completion? I guess I just dont know exactly what you guys with experience would say is the better option. I know one option is obviously the crashpad where I get there the day of or day prior and sit there for 3-4 days and then fly home after completion but is that the only option. Even better may be to have an overnight or two in my trip so I could fly to EWR, fly that day, overnight and the next day and do it all over again and fly home the next day which would eliminate the need for a crashpad, but that is of course pending overnights at all, who knows what the trips the Q will fly are yet anyway.
I know in the northeast and commuting on an RJ may leave me stranded and I am not trying to get myself in trouble my first year. Just looking for some input.
I know this posts seems a little tedious, but I am familiar with the search feature and just couldnt quite find what I was looking for.
I understand commuting is basically when you live far enough from your base where you cant simply drive there and have to get there by alternate means but what im looking for is what is typically done in a situation like mine or advice from those who have done similiar. I have a ways to go until I get there but I am the kind of person who likes their ducks in a row well in advance. The ducks havent even flown back from the south yet and I already have a roster and spreadsheet and have diagrammed each of their places....yes I am that fanatical
Commuters will try to bid "commutable" trips, which means that you can get to EWR on the first day of your trip and leave on the last day. Sometimes, however, this is not always possible on one or both end(s) of a trip. In this case, you'll need either a hotel room or a crash pad. Which one you get is up to you, but the two big deciding factors are cost and how often you'll need a place to stay in EWR.
One way to minimize the cost and hassle of commuting is to bid for as many three- and four-days as you can. While you're working, you don't need to worry about a place to stay in your base. One-days are generally not commutable and only add to the number of times you'd have to make the trip.
Last edited by POPA : 09-21-2007 at 09:32 AM.
Reason: I love America, what do you love?
thanks for the advice, I know we will have overnights so I will probably try to pick those up. As for three or four days I am not sure. I dont think I could commute daily and murphys law says if I tried I would wind up missing flights for numerous reasons.
I appreciate your input as I have only read about it, it is good to hear what those of you actually do and pointers to make it work
Bid the longest trips possible......4 days if your can... 3 days if you must.... with the high frequency of service in the NE unless you just have 1st day shows at dawn and end of trip terminations at 9pm you should be able to commute fairly well. YOU will get stranded now and again... just count on it. Being able to hold a line will be the key... guys local to EWR may bid the CDO's or out and backs if they are available. Always have at least three options you can pull out of the hat to get to work. i.e.... different carriers and even multi legging it if you have to. If at all possible try to commute with only your personal bag not your pubs bag as it just makes it easier to get on and off the acft. For that matter your personal bag should be as small as you can make it with out being inconvienced. I commuted for over two years ( not long by some standards ) and was only late once... and the wx was crude at JFK anyways so ops did me a favor and wrote it off to wx delay.... IF you think you are gonna miss or be late... keep crew scheduling appraised.
I would try to bid trips that start with an late afternoon show, which gives you the morning to get there. And end with a morning return to base, which gives you part of a "work day" to get home.
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Who knows if Colgan will build commutable trips. Commuting into EWR in the northeast corridor is quite a challenge. Did you look at working for a better company than Colgan?
I commuted to JFK from ORD for years and got burned one too many times trying to fly in the same day. The weather in the northeast is ATROCIOUS and WILL completely throw a wrench in the works very often on a weekly basis. Couple that with the ATC cluster and you have a very precarious situation trying to make it to work flying in from MHT. Good luck.
Who knows if Colgan will build commutable trips. Commuting into EWR in the northeast corridor is quite a challenge. Did you look at working for a better company than Colgan?
yeah I hate to take a turn to negative town, but EWR flights from anywhere near BOS, (PWM, BDL, MHT, PVD) are usually ground stopped to hell (3-4 hrs sometimes), and the others are oversold with numerous XJT commuters, however when you guys start doing those routes you will be up there on the stby list, do you guys have a Commuter clause? (when I was there they didnt)
This is kinda what I have always said about Colgan and EWR, without a union, not good! Good work rules do wonders for a place like EWR, but if you are one of the top F/O's I wouldnt worry too much
If Colgan plans on doing all day trips out of EWR ( which I doubt they will) your QOL is going to be 1 out of a 10
I wouldn't count on commuting, at least not the same day. I'm sure there will be crash pads popping up, give the EWR lead captain a call to see if he/she knows anything. Colgan does not have a commuter clause, so if you miss your trip because of a nightmare commute, it's a missed trip, and not good.
The good news is that from what I've heard, they are not going to do day trips out of EWR. It really wouldn't make sense to. The planes are not going to sleep there, so why would the crews?
The bad news is that the commutable lines are going to go pretty senior, as I don't think there will be a whole lot of locals flying out of EWR, that and the selection is limited at colgan anyway due to the small base sizes. If there is 2 or three really commutable lines out of there I will be suprised, the rest of you are going to have to make do with what you get.
Were they not hiring for the Saab? I'd have taken that, more choices for bases and flying, and the pay is the same.
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So long, and thanks for all the fish.
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