Rookie commuting question.
 

Rookie question here......is it realistic to live in one city, commute to base ....and bid trips that have overnights in your where you live that allow you to sneak home a little more frequent?

Example: Live in Buffalo....base in lets say... MCO.....bid trips with overnights in Buffalo.....assuming good chance you could get because who in the hell WANTS to overnight in Buffalo? LOL

Thoughts?

Yes with enough seniority you could make this happen. Just make sure you are on the fleet and base that does the most BUF overnights. And then pray that the company doesn’t change schedules putting a different plane on the BUF routes.

You might sacrifice some productivity and commutability bidding strictly for XYZ overnights though. Is it worth having a BUF overnight if you have to commute in an extra day early and lose a few hours of pay in your trip value?

This is indeed possible, but since flight schedules and Bluecities change frequently it should not be a consideration in choosing an airline.

Also consider how much you’d actually be home. A 12 hour Buffalo overnight is a lot shorter if you have to get to your car, drive home, and shovel the driveway before you can get legal rest just to drive back to the airport at 4am to meet your Captain at the gate.

”I got stuck behind a snowplow” will only work once when you miss a report time in the middle of a trip.

Thank you! Makes perfect sense!

I wouldn’t worry about BUF not being a blue city.
I see plenty of guys bidding SLC /Jax etc and making it home . Might not make sense every time , but definitely a thing.

Thanks....im in a bit of a unique (or maybe its not that unique situation), houses in both places...family "stuff" in both places....and trying to dream up a dream scenario ....and not looking at it all like trying to bid a for sure, every trip thing....but if could make it work every now and again could be really cool.

Lots of great input! Thanks ya'll!

Driving back and forth to the airport to get a few hours in your own bed isn’t that great. I live 20 minutes from the airport and still avoid 1-2 day trips to avoid it. It can be nice to mix it in every now and then, though.

Another Rookie Question
 

Would Europe trips work out better for a commuter?

They tend to leave late and come back earlier so yeah it could make your commute easier. Plenty of people do the pond hopping stuff for that reason if you can deal with the long leg redeye flying.

How is commuting from DCA to BOS or even JFK? First time commuter, any insight is appreciated. Considering taking the jump to B6. TIA!

All are easy. Lots DCA- BOS. Of course DCA-LGA is easier than DCA-JFK (or was years ago)

Driving to IAD or DCA for work is a lot easier than both. And there are 2 majors hiring who have bases there. Just sayin