Ferd;

My experience only:

They can put you on back to back shortcalls. For int'l, due to the 24 hr s/c they wil usually give you rest and restart your s/c at the same time as the previous day. If your category flies domestic, the 1st 12 hrs you are legal for domestic and int'l, the second 12 you are legal for int'l only. Between s/c they have to give you (I think) 9 hrs rest. So it can be 24 on 9 off 24 on. As a commuter you are skrewwed. Or it can be 15 on 9 off 24 on. It really is any permutation of the above.

There is a time in the morning when they are assigning s/c like around 8 or 9 am, for the next days coverage. Often they wont post it until later.

If you want to know definitively whether or not you are safe to commute home, call scheduling. Typically they dont use line of sight scheduling and will tell you you dont have s/c tomorrow.

There are a couple schedulers who IMO seem meaner than the others. They really enjoy messing with your life.

However, most are very accomodating. My recomendation would be to find out the names of some of the accomodating ones and ask for them by name when you want to work something out. If they can, they usually do accomodate you. Remember, they do have a schedule to staff...sometimes the answer is no.

The only strategy I have found on reserve that gives a commuter some semblance of a life is to bid 4 on 3 off. This normally results in s/c on the 1st available day and L/C for the others. You are non-available for the long trips and you end up commuting 4 or 5 times a month.