Florida,

1) There is no commuter clause in the PSA contract.
Management unilaterally instituted a commuter policy, which is similar to what you described. You think "Great! What a progressive understanding company. It must be a nice place to work." However the flip side of the commuter policy involved accepting the reliability policy, also unilaterally instituted by the company. Which says if you call in sick, more than the specified allotment, the company can terminate you. The Union opposes the relaibilty policy for a number of reasons, not the least of which is flying while sick is against company policy as stated in the Flight Ops Manual, and is patently an unsafe act. But a pilot would inevitably be forced to choose between flying sick and losing his job.

The other part of the commuter policy says if you miss your trip, you are not pay protected, and will be a reserve pilot for the duration of the assignment.

2) In DAY, you should be able to hold a tolerably good line in much less time than in CLT. A year to 18 months perhaps. Of course in that time PSA might be feeding LAS and PHX. Commuting to DAY from FL could be a real disaster. I was flying from IAH to DAY at first, there were 2 Xjet ERJs a day. Or connect via some combination of CLT, CVG PHL, ATL, or DFW. I flew into IND and CMH and rented a car on more than one occasion. A two leg commute is required out of FL to DAY, that will be problematic, no matter how good a line you hold. It would not be unreasonable to expect to regularly lose a full day on either side of your trip due to the commute.

Check with PSA ALPA about upgrades - they can give you the most up to date info on that topic. A six year upgrade was what they were at when I left. I understand that the last of the dork FO's has now been awarded CA... I think that's at least five years, but I'm by no means certain.

Once you've decided that you dont want to be Pam's beech anymore, (You'll hear stories about Pam. She is one of the least loved PSA schedulers) you could take thet CRJ training over to Republic, get a healthy signing bonus, and be based in CMH or IND - neither to bad a drive from DAY.


328dude,
I love driving to work. Flying at Eagle is day and night from my life at PSA. Even when I was in LGA, proffering for trips or reserve periods meant I had some control over my life. Less than 6 months to hold a line. Great flying - no more no more FAY, Jacksonville, NC, or CAE type overnights. The Hotels are generally a cut above where PSA would stay. Automated trip trades & open time. Real time posting of open trips. Pay protection for reassignment, and you never get reassigned, unless the wheels fall off because of bad weather - not just scheduling being idiots.

But yeah, I am home a lot more, and it has worked out for me far better than I really expected, or even could have hoped.