Kalitta. They definitely have a nice commuting situation over there.

Same at Omni; positive space paid ticket to/from work, pilot keeps the miles and they add up quickly. Often bumped up to first once you gather enough status. Also makes family vacations a breeze since you cash in miles for real tickets instead of standby

Never need crashpad or to buy your own hotels. Once you leave your home you always get a hotel... and in many cases keep the hotel points.

Just to add some details, at FDX, to be protected by the commuter policy, you must be on own metal scheduled to arrive at least 1:30 before show, with a total duty day (starting 1 hour before Jumpseat flight departure time to 30 minutes after block in of working flight) of 13:30 or less. Which being able to use the protection of the commuter policy on most international flights. Also, you can park at company facility for free.

But if you are senior enough and can hold double deadhead trips, you can just positive space yourself to/from airplane. But you are not covered if you don’t arrive at the departure airport at least 8 hours before show time.

Personally, there are better commuter policies at the aa/dL/ua than Fedex if you are looking at protection.

Majors with Best Commuter Policies
 

He didn’t really define what “best” or “commuter friendly” means to him. Those things are subjective. For some, it may mean that you are not in jeopardy of discipline. To others it means easy of use. And to some, it means costs.

If what people wrote is correct, AA’s commuter policy is better than DAL. You only need one flight (can be offline) as opposed to two. And if you rather just be there instead, just give yourself two flights like DAL. So at AA, you only need one but can obviously give yourself more chances if you rather just get there. The option of just using one flight and still being protected is not available at DL. To me it’s a no brainer, but maybe that is just me. I came from a regional that had a better commuter policy than any airline I’ve heard of so maybe I’m just picky?

So you are insinuating that at AA you can have just one flight and if you miss you are pay protected.....

At DAL you need two flights so the second one skeds can intervene with a PS ticket and still make the trip.

I agree though everyone looks at the "best" commuting policy based on their perspective.

Not pay protected but you can pick something else up over the footprint of your trip. Also, same deal at AA if you call scheduling and tell them you’re probably gonna get bumped from your (1 option) commute, they are often willing to book you a last minute deadhead on that flight depending on reserve coverage.

That’s what’s always blown my mind about Fedex , you basically have to count your commute time towards duty day time . How does FedEx justify this but common 121 doesn’t .

That is a huge deal as a commuter.

Be careful, don't give them any ideas! :eek:

But I can actually see why FDX might do that... I can get up early and commute to a pm show and still be in good shape when I finish late evening. But spend all day commuting and THEN work multiple legs on the back side... you can see how that could go wrong. IMO multiple legs on a WOCL shift is brutal. One leg, no prob but then I want to go to the hotel.

You don't. An Assistant Chief Pilot tried that and was shot down in short order. The FAA was very clear that commute time is not duty time.

The only think that looks vaguely like that is our protection. In order to be protected on your commute, you can't have planned a commute day plus your trip to be over 13.5 hours.

Majors with Best Commuter Policies
 

No, never said anything about pay. When I say protected, I’m referring to my job, ie. no disciplinary action.

So with AA, you only need one flight and still be protected from discipline if you don’t make it. At DAL, you need two. But at AA, you can also give yourself two (or more) if you really rather just get there. More leeway at AA, in my opinion.