Depends on the domicile, fleet, and trip. When I commuted to Anchorage I frequently tried to arrive the night before to ensure I had a good night’s rest. This was because I was flying long haul and I was on probation. I wanted to ensure that I didn’t miss a flight and wanted to not be making stupid mistakes due to fatigue. Later, I did try commuting straight into a trip, arriving only a few hours before departure. Personally, I didn’t like it, but it was very money/time efficient.

If you are talking about domestic trips with a shorter first duty day, lots of people commute to arrive with just a couple hours to spare. How easy this is depends on where you live and what day of the week your trip starts. I’m living in domicile now and gladly no longer deal with it.

The back end is all personal preference. You can usually commute out with a few hours or less on company iron or get a ride over to the terminal for offline jump seats. How easy this is again depends on where you live.