New Commuter Policy United vs American
 

Anyone have a good view at the commuter policies on the new contracts United vs American they could post?

Thanks!

Yeah, AAL has the better commuter policy.

AAs is hands down better. No second flight required, no buying your own ticket greater than 12hrs out and still arriving 90 minutes early, no requirement to maintain awareness of forecast weather and other factors affecting travel and use prudent judgement to commute extra early (and sacrifice days off and bear added cost of lodging to commute in early). And you can reserve the jumpseat at AA.

Agree with above

United got substantive improvements but AA still much better

But I've been told we're dragging down the industry.......

Speaking of commuting; I’m trying to wrap my head around some things. I am a new hire living in Tampa. I thought being based in Miami and bidding LC would be a no brainer. After speaking to several people, I was told that I would be better off commuting to CLT, DFW, or PHL. Reason being that I will have a hard time non-reving to MIA from TPA due to the large amount of AA commuters. Checking AA, it looks like there are 5-6 flights a day from TPA to MIA. So my question is, if the commuter policy says I only need 1 flight to get me to base on time, why do I care if the flights are full, I get bumped or can’t reserve a jump seat? I have met the commuter policy, haven’t I? What am I missing? Caveat, I understand I’ll be on probation and I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize my job. Just don’t fully understand why commuting to another base would make much sense. TIA for comments

AA’s policy didn’t change at all.

AA’s doesn’t require any flights, let alone a backup flight. Someone who walks to work from their cardboard box in the bushes across the street from the terminal is every bit the commuter as someone who commutes from, say, Mongolia.

You’re not missing anything. You don’t need any flights, let alone a single flight. There are a ton of AA pilots that live in metro Tampa and metro Orlando, making those commutes “difficult” in the sense that the reservable jumpseat(s) are pretty much always reserved as soon as the reservation window opens 8 days prior.

I’d obviously tread lightly on probation. Use the policy sparingly and you’ll be fine. Never lie on a recorded line.

The biggest hassle of a commuter miss when you’re commuting via air is the loss of pay. At some point… you need to work to make money, right? Some bases may be more commutable by virtue of having more reservable jumpseats closer in to departure time, perhaps.

Got it. Thank you!

Bid long call and book the jumpseat when it opens 8 days out. Proffer for trips, and you’ll be fine. You don’t want to burn commuter misses due to laziness. You’ll take a financial hit and potentially get a chief pilot meeting if you do it too often.