It has gone to new hires recently. You can be based there continuously for 4 years and 11 months. After that you will need to bid a different base and be activated there before being able to reset the clock.

 

If you don’t mind bidding reserve, it’s pretty easy to do at JB.

 

I did this for 7 months, commuting to Eastern Europe from Florida. If you have the seniority to hold 2 weeks on 2 weeks off technically it's possible. Realistically though during those 2 weeks it was 6 on 1 off with a lot of flying so you are really tired. I jumpseated on Delta and usually got business class, never had a flight that was overbooked, worst case was a middle seat in cattle class. Sometimes if my duty ended early enough on the last day I could get a flight over to Europe in the evening which is when most flights leave eastbound. It's not sustainable, especially as you get older, if you aren't used to doing red eyes your circadian rhythm will be shot to hell and it could affect you safety, I guess it all depends on what kind of schedule you have.

The worst part are the check in agents at some airports in Europe, they don't know about jumpseating and sometimes it will take a lot of explaining and even trips to the ticket office to get a boarding pass because you won't be passing security without one. If you need to do a connecting flight on a non US carrier, you'll have to get an ID90 because Europe doesn't have inter-airline jumpseat protocols. I'd say it's doable but only once every few months, since the commute will be eating up a lot of your free. time. Also plan on coming back at least 2 days before you start your next trip just in case, especially if there's only 1 flight per day back to the states from wherever you are travelling from and also because you will need a good 24-48 hours to completely adjust back to your time zone. Also you should have your own apt stateside, at least a studio, I couldn't imagine doing that commute with a crashpad, your QoL would be absolute trash.

All that being said I am in the same place as you, I fly in Europe and want to return to the US, my plan is to come back to Europe every few months once I can get enough seniority to hold 2 on 2 off, but I will be renting an apartment wherever my base is. Good luck and feel free to PM if you have any more questions.

 

Did not expect so many responses so quickly. Thank you all for the feedback.

It’s clear that it’s doable, but it’s also clear that there are many potential drawbacks. Perhaps the the biggest thing is that I’ve yet to read in this thread or another, of anyone that says “I’m doing it, and I’m loving it”. Everybody seems to have done it for a period of time, and then stopped for one reason or another and that’s unsettling but understandable.

I guess it comes down to your individual situation. Seniority, base, ability to bid a productive schedule and the value you get from living at home, and in my case the value I think my children would get from growing up with their family and roots, even if dad is gone half the month. Decisions, decisions….

Form me I don’t think the time for an Atlantic commute is right now, but I think in a couple of years I could get to bid productive trips and cram them within a two week period. Get a studio apartment state side to keep legal residence and a obviously a place to sleep, and do basically a 15 on, 15 off. Commute wise there are plenty of daily MAD-JFK and MAD-MIA flights to accommodate a JFK or FLL base, and there are plenty of credit card point tricks to get confirmed tickets once a month and not stress about standby travels.

Anyways, lots of food for thought. Thanks fellows.

 

You mean by bidding all your reserve days consecutively?

I’ve thought about it but thing is that you would only get 12 to 14 days off, and if you deduct commute days that wouldn’t leave you with many actual days at home. I think if you have the seniority you could do better with productive flying. Also, I would live in fear that the ability to bid consecutive days could go away in future contracts ha ha.

 

PM sent, hope that’s ok

 

Any chance you can move your family to the states, preferably to base? Live would be soooo much easier!

 

Seems more flexible for flight attendants. I know of several that commute internationally, like Venice to Chicago, but they definitely work hard to change up their work schedules and use vacation. It helps to be senior.

 

I'm at Atlas and we have a bunch of folks who live overseas. Our 30-day bid lines are (generally) 17 on, 13 off. We have pilots living in Thailand, Japan, Europe, the Philippines...I think if you want to live outside the States and commute in, Atlas is probably hard to beat. Get a ZED fare or something to get stateside and then the company picks up your travel to/from work from there, and you will never need a crashpad. You could also just DH in on company metal if you live near a major international destination for Atlas, as an example.

Edit: not sure if you are willing to switch jobs, but if so look in to Atlas or another ACMI (or FDX/UPS for the Germany bases of course)

 

Friend of mine got it right out of indoc back in '18, just lucknof the draw.