notthesame

I'm thinking seriously about applying at ExpressJet. I like where the company is heading... but... I will be a commuter from the SW. I know commuting will suck, but I don't have the ability to move to base.

I was wondering if anyone might chime in and maybe post some recent junior schedules? Is building a commutable line possible as an ultra-junior FO (maximizing days off in a row type thing). My commute will suck, but I won't have the option of not making it.

Thanks!

SoFloFlyer

Curious about this too

Mundergun

Also curious

da42pilot

You can waive certain contractual things, like max of 5 days on, no single days off, etc. For example, on reserve you could bid to work March 1 through March 6, have one single day off on March 7 that you spend in base, then work March 8 through 13th, then go home.

That’s 12 days of work/reserve and you’re still owed 10 or 11 days for the rest of the month.

You can do similar with a line but with possibly more days off. It’s not for everybody but people do this.

Blackhawk

You probably want ORD or IAH.
Look at passrider.com to see about flights from your local airport to those two bases. My guess is that IAH will be a shorter flight, but ORD will have more flights if it's a major airport such as PHX. Someplace smaller such as ELP or ABQ it may be a toss-up as for the number of flights.
Good luck. It will suck at first but gets better with time.

81618

I’m IAH based and commute from NM, I bid just under 50 percent in base. I went through my bids for 2018 and averaged out the amount of lines I was able to bid on that were “commutable”. Overall, the average amount of lines that I bid for came out to be around 15 lines per month (including vacation month bids which is important to disclose because I bid stuff I normally wouldn’t in a vacation month to get the trip touching we get as line bidders) Take out the 2 vacation months and I averaged a measly 9 lines per month that were commutable by my definition. For a line to qualify as commutable for me, there can’t be more than 2-3 nights in hotel either at the start or finish of any of the trips for that month. Then I modify that further in line improvement if I’m lucky to do so, but I don’t hold my breath and plan on flying what I’m awarded when I submit my bid and any improvement in the improvement window is a blessing.

However, I don’t bid the whole packet. I take the total amount of lines we get and cut it in half and bid the last half of the packet. For example say we have 120 lines in base, cut that in half and that gives me lines 60-120 to bid on. So like I said, those averages are for the back half of the bid packet since I know my seniority can’t hold the upper stuff. The worse months of 2018 for me were Jan (2 lines), Feb (1 line), and July where I actually had to bid down to reserve to get noon call out just to get to work without coming in the night before for the entire month. Nothing but 6am-8 am shows for that month. The best months were Nov (25 lines), and May (20 lines that were commutable).

I was able to bid more trips in past years…. however, the timetables for my city pair was changed at the end of 2017 and the last flight out of IAH back home is significantly earlier than it has been in the past which of course crippled my bidding choices and eliminated lines that would have normally been commutable in most of 2017.
When you bid in the secondary (PBS) we have an option for it to seek out commutable attributes and the definition of commutable for the software is a trip that has a show any time after 1100 and a release any time before 1700 so I guess you can say that’s what’s considered “commutable” per our smartpref manual. Which in my case is exactly what I need for commutability. First flight gets me into IAH at 10:50 and last one leaves IAH at 1815 usually. It should also be noted that our base line builder builds lines where commutability is the second to last priority used when developing the bid packet. He does a good job of communicating the process for different months.

notthesame

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like it's do-able, but will suck (and suck less later).

How successful are people who bid for single days off at the beginning (or end) of a month in order to get maximum days off in a row later in the bid period?

If you're on reserve and don't get used during your reserve period, are you able to pick up open time on your single day off and drop the last day of your reserve line? Or is the pick-up simply OT?