RJS,

All of that assumes the spouse has no career of his/her own. How selfish are we to derail his/her career progression just to make our own lives easier?

I’m quite thankful that my wife works. Her career carried us through several furloughs and forced relocations. I’m fortunate that we are able to live in a domicile now, but that decision was made by her ability to transfer to a department in this city. Only recently did my compensation eclipse hers. And then she got a promotion and now we’re both making about the same money again. It wouldn’t be fair (or smart) to ask her to give up her life’s work just to make MY life easier. I’m glad I didn’t have to.

There are lots of reasons to commute. We have divorced parents who are geographically anchored to the children. Husbands whose wives are doctors or lawyers with established practices. Pilots who care for elderly parents. Or just those who can’t see living in one of our domiciles.

I don’t blame them. If we had commutable lines I’d move back to the small town we came from in a snap. Cheaper, safer, prettier. 42% of our pilots commute and I am bewildered why they don’t take up pitchforks and torches at HQ and demand some commutable lines. But I guess we have Stockholm syndrome and instead we brag about our industry leading (?) flexibility, or the efficiency of our trips. Commutable Tripp’s might pay less and couldn’t be locked into the AM/PM paradigm. We have 10,000 pilots. There should be trips that fit everyone’s needs. Plenty of flying to go around.



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