commuting question
 

Got my interview coming up and want to bounce a question off those that are familiar with things at AA.

I’m thinking of jumping to aa from my day trip focused airline, so I don’t have much experience trying to make a commute work. The idea is to be MIA A320 based, and potentially commute from Medellin, Colombia. Average day is 4-5 flights a day between mdw-Mia, from between 7am to early afternoon, two on aa metal. 3 hour flight to Mia.

what are the commuter rules like? Would it be possible for me to sit lcr and make this work or am I delusional? Possible as a lineholder?

thanks for the info!

that lack of late flights could bite you on LC. All you need is one legal flight on any airline to be covered by the commuter clause. Not a great idea to abuse while on probation. Very doable as a lineholder, but will probably have to commute on days off on at least one end fairly regularly initially.

Had an AA commuter on my jumpseat years ago (2015-2016). But he was senior lineholder. It's doable. On probation? Ugh. Can't on SC reserve. It looks like it's probably impossible on LC. Why? Trips are assigned by 4 PM. Last AA flight right not is 1:50 PM. First flight in the morning doesn't arrive until 11:30. That's DOA for a commuter on reserve.

I see, so if they called me at 3pm for a 7am show I’d be in a pickle. How does the commuter clause handle 2 legs? Looks like I could get two legs through bogota even late in the evening, although showing up in Mia at 2 am for a 7am show doesn’t sound like a fun way to start a trip.

How often should I expect a call when sitting lcr? How many days off on a lcr line? Is a 14 hour callout typical, or is it usually more?

I think I would be a lineholder fo relatively quickly, but if wanted to upgrade in Mia, I’d need to figure out whether lcr is reasonable.

So trips are required to be assigned prior to 4pm where the base is? (3pm mdw time). Is that typically when they assign it, or is that just the last chance to assign something? When would a typical assignment be given, and what is the typical callout on it?

LC get assigned first, LC MIA you’ll get used A LOT :D

Just to correct a common misconception- you don’t need any flights, let alone “one legal flight”. Where you start your commute from and your method of commuting has zero limit with the commuter policy. Read between the lines.

That said, I’d tread lightly on probation. Being able to reserve the jumpseat from MDE to MIA is nice. It wouldn’t be the easiest not the worst commute in the scheme of things.

well yeah… but i dont think a surface commute works if you list Colombia as a home address….

There’s zero requirement to commute from your home address before a trip, surface or not. You could commute from a mil job, a vacation, an RV off the grid, whatever. There’s zero requirement to tell Crew Scheduling the circumstances surrounding your commuter miss- think of it as akin to a sick call, you’re telling them, not asking, and it’s none of their business “why” anyway. If a CP hassles you (they almost never will, if you don’t abuse it) get your union rep on the return phone call.

The misunderstanding of our commuter policy and the inability for our pilots to read between the lines is common.

again sure. But as a probationary pilot the union rep is not necessarily there to protect from an overzealous Chief