Originally Posted by saab2000

Commuting really sucks unless it is a short 1-leg commute.

My piece of advice is to get a crashpad for those early shows. And the late finishes when you can't get home afterwards.

My other piece of advice is to leave yourself lots of options. Check loads early and often. Check the weather 24 hours before your commute. If you know the weather will suck, causing delays, go early.

During your first (probationary) year you don't want to do anything which will raise eyebrows because your employment during your first year is pretty much 'at will'. Very little protection. So do almost anything to avoid telling the Crew Desk that you missed your commute.

Sounds like TUS-IAH is not that bad a commute. Can you drive it in a worst case scenario?

Rick's rules of commuting are pretty solid.

But I don't commute!!

The only time commuting is better than living in or near domicile is if you have a really short commute on flights where you pretty much are guaranteed to get on.

For a while I commuted from ATW (Appleton, WI) to ORD and it was easier than living near ORD. Door of the house to the crew room in ORD was no more than if I lived in the burbs of Chicago.