If I am on reserve Im screwed on one of the trip no matter what normally.

AM reserve is good because you don't have to sit around the airport all day, since you'll come in the night before and get a hotel or a crash pad. PM reserve if you don't have a pad you have to be there (available) for the start of the rap even if you get assigned a trip at 11AM for a 6PM report time. Its ludicrous for commuters. Hoping to change that in the future...

With a hard line or some variation of a line, you can work trade into a later start day 1, and maybe it'll be commutable with an early release day 2,3,4 whatever. Or trade stuff around and get an earlier release and back up your trips to a 4, 5 or 6 day block. It can be done. I commute about 50 timezones away so I block all my stuff together when I work out west.


I commuted (2 hr flight) for 2 years and really didn't mind it. I would still block stuff together so I spent less time not being paid in the back, but in the end it wasn't bad. But I don't have kids so I am much more flexible with regards to all that added extra. The one thing I will say is I picked up out of about 6 different bases and it cost me the same for hotels wherever I was so I could move around and make stuff work without spending too much time in the back of the plane begging for rides.

I commute on SWA mostly, when I fly out of any of our bases minus the two California bases we have non stops from my home city. Frequency of flights is a big help, Id rather commute to BWI with 8 flights a day over HOU with only 3 flights a day. Off line options help as well.



Im a year 2-3 guy, displaced, to the worst base possible (no nonstops and takes 8 plus hours of travel to get there or back)
No kids
Work a bunch so prefer pay over QOL for now.
Hate reserve even if I lived within 2 hours of a base.