Originally Posted by
MadDog80
Commuting on paper sounds wonderful. For whatever reason it's even used as a selling point of airline pilot life. "What other job can you live in whatever city you want?" Then... You find out about 6 months down the road just how bad you ****ed up as the excitement of "the jet" and the job start to fade and the reality of spending the better part of a week away from home at a time sets in as you battle for the second and last jumpseat home on an Airbus a day after your trip already ended and you've been trying to get home for the past 15 hours. Regionals are hostile to commuters, it's an on your record occurrence every time you're late to work and people have and will continue to be fired here for it. There's no set number either. Just whenever the company decides you're a reliability problem, you're gone. Trips mostly aren't commutable on both sides. You'll have to be in the top 30% which at the rate things are moving is 2years minimum as an F/O and 8 years as a captain. Commuting WILL crush your soul. Some commutes are easier than others but most of them are hell. We're last priority on everything but our own metal. Don't say I didn't warn you. Choose the CRJ stay in PHX and don't upgrade until you can hold PHX. otherwise... Best of luck and RIP to your QOL.
You’re correct it’s basically a second job, although I commuted for a few months and made every flight home the same day my trip ended, even on spring break when they where giving out oversold vouchers (found a jump seat on OO metal, that brought me to a wide open flight home). It’s my understanding PHX is very senior for CA’s so eventually commuting or relocating will be required.
If you’re good with your phone and can navigate several flights and run potential commute scenarios in your head, commuting will be fine. The QOL of life aspect was terrible, I was a new hire at the time, I would show up the morning of the day before my trip to catch a commute so I had options (always made it easily), then take the van to the hotel and stare at the wall. In today’s world you can FaceTime anyone so it shouldn’t have to much of a burden on the relationship. There is no debate, commuting hurts QOL negatively.