Originally Posted by tennisguru

Yeah a lot of people forget to factor in prep/drive time in the witching hour. No one was going to the airport every evening to be in position to get on the last flight of the night just in case they got the dreaded 12 hour call out for the 0600 show. I’m 20 minutes from my commute airport and I reasonably need to be called close to 90 minutes from departure. That gives me just enough time to change, put my stuff in the car, drive, park, get to the terminal, get randomed at KCM, and get to the gate before they close the door 15 minutes early. I haven’t heard of anyone who has a witching hour under the new 18 hour callout, other than maybe some new hires who are jacked into a cross country commute or someone in some podunk city with no direct service to any hub requiring a 2 leg commute, but those people could be hosed even with a longer call out. 18 hours is a nice number that provides ample commute options while keeping reserves reasonably available for the company to use.