We still have people that don't get it....

Listened to an FO tell me a story about how his regional stripped away his go to the hotel flight, stranding he and his crew in base with no hotel. All were commuters, the FA went to stay with friends. Both pilots did have nightly rate crashpads, but they were removed from the hotel flight so late in the day, they couldn't get into the crashpad that night. They both basically keep it to commute in the night before, or stay the night after their trips... but if told early enough they can get a bed for the night... anyway.
He hopped a later flight home and got to bed in the early morning and his Captain went home as well. The company gave them deadhead flights out of their base to go to the outstation to pick up their trips. The FO says he woke up to his alarm clock and just couldn't get out of bed and function properly with only 4 hours sleep.... plus he would be scheduled to fly right up to 2300 that night... which wouldn't really allow for a 24 hour lookback with 8 hours of rest. He's have plenty of off duty time, but most of it spent in travel not local in nature....

So, he called in fatigued.

I think he did the right thing.

His question to me was, what about his Captain, that DID show up and fly the trip... in spite of the fact that the Capatain's commute was longer than his own... which had to have resulted in even less rest than he got.

I advised him that he really doesn't actually know if the CA did return home, or if he changed his mind and went and rented a hotel room.... just to worry about his own situation. If he found himself paired up with somebody who didn't seem fit for duty that was a different matter.... but not to go looking for trouble or excuses without proof.

Then again, the way upgrades at most regionals has ground to a halt, I won't be surprised to see him dime the guy out or call Pro-Standards... if his airline has such a thing.