Hi Skull! I am at AWAC and commuted out of IND from Jan to late Sept last year before moving to the burbs around DCA. Here is a snippet from our commuter clause:
Originally Posted by AWAC 2003 CBA
1. The commuting pilot will have one original and one back-up flight to his domicile, the first of which must be scheduled to arrive at least two (2) hours prior to the check-in time for the trip in question, and the second must be scheduled to arrive at least one-half (0.5) hour prior to check-in time. The above requirements do not relieve the commuting pilot of his responsibility of exercising good judgment when considering when it is appropriate to start his travel to his domicile. For example, waiting to commute on the day a trip is scheduled to start when there is a forecast of severe winter weather would not be considered “good judgment.” A pilot who is deemed not to have exercised “good judgment” in regards to his commute is not covered under this Section and will be subject to the provisions of the Company’s attendance policy.
I dunno how it is now, but there were 9 non-stops a day M-F between IND and PHL, 3 on Pinnacle and 6 on AWAC/Chautauqua/Republic. Saturday dropped down to about 5 nonstops, and Sunday was 7 I think. Pinnacle flights actually worked out best for me usually (one left IND at 0900 and one left PHL at 1840) and those guys were ABSOLUTELY GREAT about getting me to work and home. Between IND and DCA there used to be 7 flights, 3 NWA/Pinnacle and 4 mainline US/AWAC. Once again, I don't know how it is anymore. Try
www.passrider.com to get a better idea on timing of flights.
Our schedules are not very good for commutability...then again not many places have good schedules these days. The good news is you can make a semi-early show (10am)and get home with a semi-early finish (1830) and normally have two shots each way living in Circle City. Off the top of my head, there are (at least) 4 AWAC pilots that commute out of IND along with a half dozen-ish mainline pilots. There used to be a few more AWAC FOs commuting out of IND...but they bailed to RAH earlier this year!
Lots of IND overnights now that Chautauqua has cut way back on their US Airways Express 50 seat flying...in fact I have 4 IND overnights later this month. Sleeping in your own bed always helps with the QOL...good luck!