Mystikman23

Looking for any tips/tricks/advice on commuting. Specifically, looking to commute from HNL to fly for a west coast based regional. Constraints:

-Live in Hawaii
-Need to build FW time via a regional Rotary Transition Program (Im a military Helo driver)

Any help would be much appreciated!

Aloha!
Mystikman23

VIRotate

FlightStats, Passrider, StaffTraveler will make you excellent at commuting. I know we have a lot of Hawaii commuters here.

poorflyer

Just live in LA for a year and build time quick. I've heard Hawaiin loves anyone with ties to the islands and will pick up those FOs real quick.

Slowhawk

^ this. If you’re from Hawaii and fly at compass, you can end up at Hawaiian surprisingly quick. Apply early and multiple times

FlytheSky

Every single FO I've flown with at Compass who commutes from Hawaii and has been online for more than 6 months either has an interview date, CJO, or class date at Hawaiian. Without exception. If you're coming from Hawaii, I'd recommend Compass since you'd get LAX right out of the gate which is a far easier commute than flying to DTW, ORD, MSP, or ATL from Hawaii.

skruts

As for commuting from Hawaii be prepared to get creative during the busy season. I always had the worst luck with Hawaiian surprisingly. AA got me on in the bus often, UAL has two jumps in the 777 and is always a great ride.

Kalitta has regularly scheduled flights between HNL and LAX that's pretty convenient, they'll even take your order from Denny's from LAX-HNL! Atlas, UPS, and FedEx also have plenty of flights between the two.

I never got stranded, but there were times I had to get creative. Sometimes you may see VX/AS has a wide open flight from OGG or AA has a practically empty bus coming from LIH.

N914FJ

Don't forget we have PHX as a base as well. I think there's a couple flights a day from HNL/OGG-PHX on HA and AA

Mystikman23

Much appreciated everyone! Thanks for the awesome info!

Aviatour

Hi. Sorry for reviving an old thread. Just want to ask/confirm if LAX is the best base for someone commuting from Hawaii.

Also, how many days would someone commuting from Hawaii typically spend at home? Or what would a typical schedule look like?

Thanks in advance.

Machgyver

The LAX base it definitely what made it for me the closest commute to home with a ton of flights everyday. Never got stuck in LAX If I missed a fly I pretty much made it on the next one.

For the schedule it all depend of your seniority, by the end I was in the top 20 FO's and pretty much got whatever I bid for. I would stash as many work days together as I could so I would get as many days off together. Before I left I was able to get 17-18 days off a month but looking at whats happening at compass right now and the summer flying ramping up it might or might not be the case anymore even for senior FOs.

At the beginning you probably wont have too many choices with most likely min days off. You'll have to work with what you get and commute home when you can. We've all been there.

Work hard get your time come back home it's only temporary