Agreed.....

 

When practical the company attempts to build DH’s with a backup. A example is when they break up international trips. They usually attempt to schedule the DH in the day prior paying a extra 5:15.

 

Ok this is disingenuous, trying to compare commuting to deadheading. Your personal choice on how you get to work is NOT part of the scheduled operation. Is there no end to the pandering you commuters expect?

 

Commuting is a reality of the industry. Many air commuters have a more reliable and less stressful and less tiring ride to work than many "locals" do.

I disagree with your implied assertion that (air) commuting is some radically eccentric risk taking adrenaline junkie behavior that deserves the hammer of justice being brought down upon it for daring to be so flagrant as to do something so dastardly in the first place.

I'm referring specifically to a booked JS. That is the exact same thing as a booked PS DH. Even if its the only flight to work, in many, many cases so is the DH, including lots of trips all over the bid packs (I'm not referring to international "iron men" as that's a different animal entirely). Even if the 1 booked JS became policy for most applications, since by definition it would only apply to one pilot per flight, the large majority of commuters would still require 2 flights as they do today. However this would cut down on fake JS bookings that spousebots make at 12:00:01 PM several days prior for backup flights because someone else had the one they wanted but booked it as their backup flight etc.

There could be reasonable stipulations put in and we can debate what those cutoff times should be (scheduled arrival prior to report, etc) but the fact that the company can and regularly does book their own one flight DH's including in the bid pack a month in advance means that its statistically not a very big deal to do so. A booked JS is 100% as reliable a ride to work as a DH is relative to the same arrival buffer time before the next scheduled operation; you're getting on and can't be bumped so the only variable is the flight being late or cancelling...VERY rare...(usually way later than A+14) which is the same risk the DH'er on the same flight often faces anyway.

Your contempt for commuters in general is duly noted and appreciated with all of the respect that its owed. But a booked JS counting as a one flight clause is very reasonable, in line with what the company already frequently chooses to build in, and statistically less likely to result in a bumped pax than today's 2 flight policy.

 

Ive commuted and not. Pre js. So no interline js.

Commuting has been made immeasurably easier over the years. I am half a mind delta only relented on the js because they realized it would reduce sick calls.

If you couldnt get on as a non rev....and were making wrlfare wages...wasnt much in the way of other options.

But the equation of ones way to work is a personal one. So understand any attempt to rebalance ones personal equation that involves pwa costing is undoubtedly going to conflict with those who have alternative and equally valid priorities.

Having done both....it would take extraordinary factors for my personal equation to equal commuting vs not.

 

Gloopy: “I'm referring specifically to a booked JS. That is the exact same thing as a booked PS DH.”

Clearly, JS and PS travel are NOT the exact same thing.

One is a lost revenue seat and one is not. If you think the company wants to pass out PS seats to you for free just because you chose to live in a different city then you are barking up the wrong tree. That’s also a reality of the industry.

Your continued pandering for special treatment is duly noted.

 

LOL what are you even talking about now?

I'm not saying any commuter should be able to PS any seat anytime. I'm referring to booking the JS. That's something we already have, there's no potential loss of revenue except in very rare cases (LCA/FAA in conjunction with a full flight and FA JA taken etc) and its limited to one per flight anyway.

The existing 2 flight commuter clause has similar if not greater potential for a bumped pax than our existing booked JS does, and in any case that's not even the crux of the point.

Booking the JS (assuming you are the one who gets it for that flight) is 100% as good as a company DH reservation and both of those are even better than a PS ticket in the first place as even those can be bumped on an oversold flight anyway.

(Air) commuters are a fact of life for the industry, aren't going anywhere, and are not second class citizens. A one flight booked JS policy (which you seem to not understand what it is even though it already exists) is very reasonable and fair, and the exact equivalent of what the company freely chooses to build into many pairings anyway with planned DH flights that don't have a backup.

A booked JS is literally the most reliable way to get somewhere. One booked JS is way better and more reliable for the operation than 2 roll of the dice NR listings would be.

 

Actually for js use its commuters who are 1st class citizens and the non commuters are not.

Your commute to work js has a priority assigned not available to every other pilot who isnt a commuter.

As i pointed out...commuting has been made incredibly more manageable over the last 20 yrs. But its still a personal equation where the commuter has been provided special considerations the non commuter has not.

 

I'm asking because I don't understand.

In the example, where the guy books the jumpseat and then takes an earlier nonrev and cancels the jumpseat reservation - didn't he open that jumpseat for another pilot, by filling a nonrev seat that may have gone out empty?

 

No, because by day of that other pilot has likely already made alternative plans. He has made it more likely that an offline jumpseater will get it because he prevented other online pilots from booking it themselves.

If you are trying to get on an earlier flight anyway, the commuter policy guarantees you will get on your second one. There is no reason to put a hold on the jumpseat and prevent someone else from being able to use it who wants to use that flight as their first one.