Min calendar day of 5:30 is on my wish list. I don't mind the "right" 30 hour layover, but the vast majority of the time I get 30 hours in a place I'd rather not be, and the company works my butt off on the remaining days of the trip to minimize credit. Sure would be nice to have less work on days 1/3 of the trip or just get paid an extra 5:30 for my arrival after everything closes and departure before anything opens in Smallville, USA.

Those 30 hour layovers (i.e., BIS, LFT, MOT) could be eliminated if DALPA agreed to CDOs but my understanding was that DALPA received strong negative feedback regarding them so it was dropped from the FAR117 LOA.

CDOs are tough to work under FAR 117. At the regionals where they are allowed the number of them has significantly dropped compared to years past and even with minimum day guarantees the number of 30 hour layovers has increased significantly.

No to CDO. Yes to min calendar day of 5:30 :).

If these small town airports can only support 1 flight a day, bring it in during the afternoon and have it leave an hour later. Either no layover, or a 22 hour layover with reasonable times in/out would be much better than the existing 30 hour, in at midnight out at 6am trips we currently have.

I have to assume there is some financial advantage to leaving the planes scattered at these tiny non-maintenance airports overnight but it certainly isn't apparent from the operator perspective.

You need a early departure out of those airports to maximize connection opportunities and revenue.

Bottom line is that we schedule things to make money. If mid afternoon departures once a day was the financial ideal, we'd do that. We don't do that. Probably a compelling financial reason for that.

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This makes sense and was my gut feeling. Doesn't make the 0345 wake-ups any easier. I feel for people whose body clocks aren't on EST, it's rough for anybody waking up at 0345 EST, I can't imagine the poor pilots who are acclimated to mountain or pacific time who have the 0530 departure out of CAE or ILM.

I would guess it has to do with collecting passengers for the hub "banks" in the AM. A later morning departure might not get the jet to a hub in time to give the passengers time to connect thru the first bank and (supposedly) frequency is an important factor in customer wants...after gluten-free, non-GMO taste-free snacks, of course.

Agreed. Id rather do CDO lines all month long than try to cycle between late nights and early wake ups that assume grown adults can get to bed at 7PM for a solid 8 hours of REM sleep. That's a bigger fantasy than thinking "8 hours behind the door" is an 8 hour sleep opportunity LOL.

I’d do CDOs all day....for 10:30 pay.

Atl-SAV, 6 hours sleep, fly back in the morning.