I'm not an understandably angry virgin commuter, but just about any airline pilot on the west coast knows that AS is not a particularly commuter friendly.

 

I looked into this. You'd probably be better off driving from Vancouver to SEA. I have a NEXUS card and all the fast pass options. Clearing customs at SEA is easy. Vancouver can be a nightmare if your flight arrives at the same times as the Asian inbound flights. Also you have to spend a lot of money on taxes as there is some kind of tax for non rev passengers who travel internationally. This could get expensive. In addition it will take a long time until you can hold a commuter friendly line. So you'll spend the majority of your time in a crashpad in SEA. This will be a big issue while you are on reserve. Maybe less as a line holder but current staffing issues have FOs flying maximum hours with no ability to drop or trade. So it could get very ugly. I wouldn't recommend it unless you were single. The upside is that you'd make a lot more money than someone who worked at a Canadian airline flying the same equipment.

 

I've flown with a guy who lives in YVR and commutes to SEA. Usually he just flies down but being able to drive it is a great back up. I've commuted my entire airline career. I hold 4-day trips that start early on day 1 but I'm done before noon on day 4 95% of the time. Usually it's an early east coast show and in SEA by 10-11am on last day for me. Does commuting suck? Sure does but I put up with it.

 

How many 4 days are you doing in a month?

 

That sure sounds commutable to me….but all the angry bunch post above that Alaska is not commuter friendly 🙄

 

How many airlines have you worked for? I've worked for four and of those four, Alaska is THE ONLY ONE at which it is nearly impossible, even as a senior bidder, to fly trips that are commutable on both ends. The guy you responded to is lucky enough to work trips that are commutable on one end... Because that's basically the ceiling for commutability at Alaska.

And commutability is a lot more than report/release times... It's being able to finesse one's schedule through trading and bidding to stack trips together, minimize trips to and from base, etc. It's lines with more than 15 days off. It's the commuter policy, and ours is lacking. ETC ETC.

I am stuck with the trips I was awarded for April because big surprise, reserve coverage is negative for nearly the entire month. I can't give away my trips because who would pick them up when they could fly premium instead because of this company's abysmal staffing? I need to move one trip one day to attend a family function and I cant because of staffing, so I'll be forced to use sick time instead. I don't commute anymore but if I did, I sure wouldn't call this predicament commuter-friendly, not by a long shot. And nothing from the new contract that's been implemented so far feels ANY different in that respect.

I'm convinced you just reflexively respond to defend the company every time criticism is posted instead of even giving a single thought to how out of your element you really are. The only people who could possibly recommend commuting to this airline are the ones who have never worked anywhere else.

 

My previous regional had better commuter language and trips then AS does. If you stay at AS you’re either in the left seat and too senior to start over or you live in base and don’t deal with the blaring issues that most trips present for commuters here. In terms of commuting this airline really isn’t high up on that list. Could that change eventually? Yes. Will that change? Probably not. If you’re deadset on commuting especially from Canada I’d recommend Delta. Good luck!

 

The McChord mafia is still strong in the AS pilot group. Hey it’s better than active duty so it must be ok. After 8 airlines, and commuting for ALL of them, AS is NOT commuter friendly.

 

If you need commuter hotels then your airline is not commutable.

 

👆👆👆This right here is reality.👆👆👆