Yes, but barely. Even worse would be 7/8pm call for a 7/8am report... couldn’t make it. So I guess the answer is no, unless I’m missing something (haven’t sat much reserve).

 

Depends on how many trips there are, how many reserves junior to you in the same reserve bucket there are, and how lucky you feel. I would advise against it.

Side note: Just because there are pilots junior to you doesn’t necessarily mean they will be assigned the trips ahead of you. There could be extenuating circumstances you cannot see.

Denny

 

I wouldn’t if it were me, but when I have commuted I had a very low risk tolerance. In today’s environment with 5 reserves in your bucket, you being the last one on the list to be used and 1 trip to cover, the other 4 ahead of you are just as likely to get put on short call leaving you with the trip. It can be hard to predict.

 

It baffles me why anyone would roll the dice on such a good job. It is possible that Delta could release you to live where ever you want, and do what ever your heart desires.

 

You are obviously talking about a worse case scenario that would be very rare - but nonetheless you still need a plan.

UPS has a pretty big operation out of Ontario. Although not super convenient to LAX or SNA that might fill the “non-commutable” gap.

FDX might also have a flight out of SEA that you could use.

You might still have some “gaps” on the weekend but UPS and FDX might make it possible most of the week.

Scoop

 

I just did the SEA to LAX commute for the last 11 months. I had been commuting to LAX from Sacramento. Big difference. Sacramento was all RJ’s and Southwest and even though there were 21 flights per day, it was not a sure thing.

SEA to LAX on the other hand was easy (albeit longer). You can book the jumpseat on Delta for the flight that will get you in on time and try for an earlier Alaska flight. There are sometimes 30 flights per day between all the airlines.

When you have the jumpseat booked there is no need to worry about loads, in fact, I didn’t look at loads until I was at the airport to see if I would get a seat. Tons of stress was removed by being able to book the jumpseat.

The sheer amount of options to LAX makes it a piece of cake. There are not as many options to SLC.

That said, I just started my new gig in Seattle and can drive to work from here on out. Happy, happy.

 

Welcome to Seattle! It’s a great base!

Denny

 

You can legally sit LC in Tristan da Cunha if you want to, as long as you can make it under a worst case 12 hour call out.

 

This is how you lose your pass benefits. Granted it's difficult for them to catch you... but regardless, it's not cool.

Only book a JS if you plan on using it.

Remember, the commuting gods are watching.

 

Really? I'd have thought dozens - if not hundreds - of JS bookings on any given day were backup or contingency plans.

If anyone wants to crack down on a holery, let's require the FAA to announce their intent to occupy the jumpseat with some sort of notice. An AA JS rider on one of our flights recently missed commuter flight B on SWA because the flight A jumpseat on us was looking good...right up until the FAA took it 15 minutes prior. That FAA dude had been sitting there over an hour but didn't tell anyone what he was going to do, and must have known his own intentions an hour before that. Had he done so with more notice, our AA friend could have gone elsewhere. Instead, he missed both and waited several hours to try again.