Originally Posted by
CptGSXR
That is the 2nd or 3rd time I've seen this HOM base thing mentioned. Would anyone mind clarifying what that is? Is it a confirmed thing at this point, or still pending?
It's happening. Details are sketchy at best. The gist:
- You are in this fictitious base called HOM (make up your own acronym)
- Every month, you are flown to whatever city will be your base.
- You are provided a hotel room
- You will get a rental car if the hotel does not have an airport shuttle (good luck getting groceries if you are staying in a hotel with a stingy shuttle policy)
- You will bid your seniority for whatever trips are created for that city. Expect at least some reserve even if you are bidding #1
- No per diem is the rumor (not confirmed, however). But, since per diem is only $1/hr, you won't miss it.
- You will be flown either to your home airport or to your next city after the end of the month.
Some important things to know:
-Even if you have more than 2 days off in a row (highly unlikely), you will NOT be given a positive space ticket home. This differs from what has traditionally been "home" basing.
-Unless you are single with no family, no home, and no possessions, this will be a significant tax on your life.
To give you another perspective, we have FO's who have been here 5 years+. The captain slots into this HOM base went to guys who have been here 6 months. The FO slots haven't been assigned yet because that's where all the newhires are going. This has the potential of being a decent deal for commuters, but in their usual "ready, fire, aim" way of doing things, they expect the crewmembers to bear the brunt of their lack of planning.