Majors with Best Commuter Policies
 

Which major airlines have the best policies for commuters?

I have my apps in with carriers where I could be home based, however, I am opening up to the idea of the commuting if the airline has solid policies.

A non-comprehensive list of things I'd be looking for:

• Ability to reserve the jumpseat(s)
• Positive space options
• Commuter hotel options
• Full reimbursement of airport parking fees

I know elements of these exist at the regional carriers and can only assume the majors have similar or even better policies, clauses, etc. Which majors are the most commuter friendly?

At Delta:

Can reserve the JS on own metal (not regional affiliates) a certain number of days in advance depending on the need (to work, from work, personal). If JS is reserved TO work and you are subsequently bumped by FAA or line check, you get positive space on same flight. This does not apply trying to get home.

You are required to give yourself 2 flights to get to base before report. If your backup flight is a Delta flight and it is at least 2 hours after your primary flight, you will get positive space on your backup if you miss your primary. The 2 hours isn't totally a hard rule but you can't cut it close since you may be bumping a revenue passenger if your backup is full.

No commuter hotels, however if during your trip due to delays or cancellations you end up with a domicile layover you will get a hotel provided by the company (lineholder only, not if on reserve, as you are immediately released from the rest of the trip if on reserve)

Parking is only provided in any Delta pilot or FA domicile. No reimbursement for any other airports.

I'm pretty sure AA has the best commuter policy. You can reserve the Jumpseat a week out on own metal. There is no requirement to have a backup flight to use the commuter policy. AA will pay for parking at your home airport. I think there are some restrictions, but when I commuted it was covered.

The requirement to have a backup fit at Delta is if you are non-revving to work, so that if you miss that fit, skeds can put you positive space on the next flight. If you have the JS reserved, there is not a requirement to have a backup plan but caveat emptor....

SWA... If using offline then need 2 flights, the second one must arrive at least 1 hour prior to report. Only need one flight anytime before report time if non-reving on company. We’re not able to reserve JS.

At AA it doesn’t matter if you are commuting on company flights, by horse and carriage, or via hot air balloon. No backup ever required and if you can’t get to work for whatever reason just call and say you need to use the commuter clause. It’s a pretty good system.

If you “abuse” the policy which isn’t defined the company can force you to document availability on your planned commutes.

I didn’t know that. So if I have the jumpseat reserved on a flight that is scheduled to arrive, say, an hour and a half before sign in, and a weather delay causes me to get to base after sign in, I’m covered? That’s good to know.

Reread the contract and FOM. In all cases a backup is required.

It’s also incorrect.

This is not correct. Review CBA 5.P.2.

At WN, a pilot must have two flight opportunities (online OR offline) to arrive before scheduled report time. Alternatively, if solely traveling online, one flight is enough IF you are scheduled to arrive one hour prior to report.

We cannot reserve the jumpseat; it is first come-first served starting at one hour prior to departure. No seniority is involved.

Dont commute.

What does “reserve the jumpseat” mean. (Non commuter here). What if it’s an MCO-JfK flight with 10 commuting pilots and 1JS?

You are correct. My apologies. I got it backwards. I haven’t commuted for a year, so I’m forgetting what I knew :D

Thanks for the correction!

We have a computer system where you can book the JS on a first-come first-served basis. If you’re the junior guy and you book the JS it doesn’t matter if there are 100 other pilots trying to get on the flight, that seat is yours.

FDX, can reserve JS 21 days out. Protected if you’re company mental going into a trip with a couple exceptions like duty day, international trip.

But most of us who commute just bid and fly deadhead trips with paid tickets to/from the trip.

If you’re going to commute, there’s no other place you should consider.

Commuted at UAL as well, that on the other hand was absurd. Seniority based JS until time of departure was crazy to me.

FDX by far the best. The FDX dudes I commuted with also commuted with sleeping bags. Best commute I have ever seen.

K4 paid ticket to work.

NK:
Book JS 3 days out.
Two flights required, both need to get you there before your trip, can leave at the same time, no need to look at loads/weather/anything.
If you don’t get on your first option call CS, they have the option to buy PS. Don’t get on your last option call CS, they can take you off your trip without pay, get you on later flight for your trip or put you on reserve for the length of your trip.
Can use commute policy as often as needed without repercussions.
No refunds/hotels.

Don’t think any mayor does hotel, only some ACMI have home basing.

He’s not asking about getting in trouble for a missed commute, rather ease of commute. Delta is far superior to AA in that, though I would rank AA second.

Yes at AA you can call in stuck commuting, but you won’t get paid. I’d rather get there...

Who?

<filler>

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.

Yes, but at AA/DL/UA/SW, you are can commute and operate right away AND be protected. FedEx’s policy is a lot less lenient than those places. But it is true, that once you have seniority, you can get double dead head trips where you positive space yourself. BUT, you are not protected on those flights either. So back to the same problem. The policy needs to change for the better to catch up to others.

He did define what best or commuter friendly mean to him:

Ability to reserve the jumpseat(s)
Positive space options
Commuter hotel options
Full reimbursement of airport parking fees

That’s why I posted.

To your second point, yes AA has a good policy in terms of not getting in trouble, but Delta has access to cabin jumpseats, and the company will positive space you in more cases than AA.

Majors with Best Commuter Policies
 

Actually, he said it was a non-comprehensive list. He also didn’t say if the partial list was in priority order. So he didn’t ‘really’ define it, IMHO.

And to your second point, like I said, from what was written, the AA policy seemed better. But if DL also allows cabin jumpseats, that would definitely tilt it their way IF you valued getting there (getting paid) over just not being disciplined.

Agreed 100%.

From the above referenced section, the end of paragraph 2;

“Alternatively, the second scheduled flight is not required if the primary flight on Southwest is scheduled to arrive in domicile at least one (1) hour prior to check-in”.

Basically, one flight if it’s on SWA and arrives at least 1 hour prior to check-in. Two flights if it arrives less than 1 hour prior and/or is off-line.

This paragraph refers to domicile and not training. We don’t reserve, just show up and it doesn’t matter if there are available seats.

The best commuter policy I’ve personally experienced.

So just to confirm:
Offline jumpseater at the gate 1hr prior, SWA guy shows up 45min prior, does not bump offline guy?

Off-line gets bumped by SWA pilots, of course. But we have two jump seats on most planes and SWA pilots can take the cabin jumpseat to make room in the cockpit if it’s not taken.

I agree with that, but I have heard conflicting stories. The ALPA-site for SWA says:" The flight deck jumpseat is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis subject to the Captain's approval." without reference to OAL/Offline, and most other airlines JS-info do. I have heard from SWA pilots that it is FCFS regardless if SWA or not....

Use a little common sense on this one!

It's first-come, first-served within different priority levels. Southwest pilots come first. We will, however, happily take the extra cabin jumpseat to get you on if that's what it takes.

For example, 3 OAL pilots list for the jumpseat and a SWA pilot shows up after, here's how this plays out:

In this case, a SWA pilot gets the cockpit jumpseat over OAL regardless of when he/she checked in as SWA pilots have priority for our jumpseat. Given that we have access to cabin jumpseat as well, I'd say 99.99% of us will happily take the cabin jumpseat to get OAL guys on. The priority between the 3 OAL guys is determined by their check-in time.

Bear in mind that at Southwest, all employees have access to the 4th FA jumpseat so that can be a little tricky on packed flights.