Commuting Internationally
 

Hi all, Looking to join one of the legacies at some point ideally in the next year. Going to be moving over to the States long term in the next few years, but would ideally like to start before we actually move. Are there international commuting policies for any of the carriers? Thanks!

I'm not aware of any policies specific to international commutes. All majors pretty much have a commuting policy of some sort, whether that's compatible with an international commute would depend on the contract details.

People do international commutes, I know several. Latin America or Canada to the US seems more common, but I'm on the west coast. I even a knew an FA who commuted from Germany back in the day, but she was single and flexible and could spend short blocks off in domicile, only going home once or twice a month.

It would matter which country and location... Canada would be more like a domestic commute, while a two-leg commute from a less developed country might not be practical at all.

There are quite a few guys who do it. Many however have seniority and bid layovers at home. Others stack their trips together as best they can and stay at base during the block.

I’m not doing it just yet but once I get into WB and gain some seniority, my plan is commuting to Spain. Front load all the flying and then spend 12-14 with my family, rinse and repeat. PHL/MIA/CLT/NY is what works for me with AA.
Easy? I doubt it. But my family lives there and they’re getting older, can’t move them here with me, so hopefully seniority will makes things easier at some point.

I know a guy that commutes from London but is based in EWR. Knew a guy at my regional that lived in Mexico City and commuted to IAH.

Nothing restricting it, nothing specifically mentioning it. Basically the same commuter policy applies as if you were living state side.

I have heard FedEx or UPS require you to live in the US but I think that has more to do with their USPS mail contract.

My wife used to commute from Venice to ORD. Of course, the ability to move or stack trips and using vacation and strategic sick calls will make all the difference.

You can certainly live overseas at UPS. We have quite a few pilots that do and I think our schedules might actually make it easier than most places.

The three biggest bug-a-boos to watch out for:

1) Make sure you have the seniority to execute your commuting program. Building that kind of seniority is going to mean sitting in a seat way longer than you might otherwise.

2) Be sure you have some fall back plans. Ball ups due to this, that or the other thing, including strikes, weather, whatever means bailing out to some alternate European hubs, and that's going to be chaotic and stressful no matter how well you plan it out. You need to be ready to eat some days and probably cash on either end of the commute.

3) Make extra sure you have an accountant and/or tax person who is 100% dialed into what you are doing. Not kinda, sorta, maybe "I took an online course on international taxes", but a no kidding expert who is completely familar into exactly what you are doing. You're going to have authorities on either side of the Atlantic looking for their due.

I know at least two people who did the international commute. One handled it well, stayed uber senior in seat, and was chill. The other....wasn't. You pay your dollar (or euro), you take your choice.

Totally false. I shared a crashpad in MEM with a guy who lived in the UK and worked for FDX when I was there. Not a life I would choose but he proved it was possible.

This was well before FDX lost the USPS contract.

We have people living all over at UPS. One guy was commuting from South Africa. Asia guys can have a pretty good deal with some seniority. Europe doable and can be pretty good if you got a good amount of seniority.

i think it was requirement to get hired,(background checks?) but after the fact it didnt matter

Yes USPS had a bizarre requirement that employees who carry the mail had to have lived in the US for five years prior to getting hired... to fly mail all over the world. Not even the military and CIA have a rule like that :confused:

Not sure if the rule still exists, but it did not too many years ago.

MIA to Sao Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Hanover, Germany commuters. No point in listing N. South America cities or the Caribbean because there's probably someone commuting to a lot of them.

JFK - Paris, Rome, Alaska commuters.

DTW - Tel Aviv

LAX - JFK

Hawaii - LAX and DFW.

Rome - JFK commuter. Weight restricted to JFK??? Went to EWR. Bus/train to LGA. Taxi to JFK. Flew overnight to Sao Paulo. We're walking around and his on his phone a lot. Two bank cards shut down....for suspected fraud. Breakfast in Rome, snack in EWR, dinner in JFK, breakfast in Sao Paulo. All within 30 hrs. Bank froze his card for suspected fraud.


Being senior in your seat REALLY helps.

Not to be crass, but.......

1) Commuting is a "choice", I did it just over 20 years

2) In 25 years, airlines have gone from minimal, if any commuter policies to actually pretty decent ones, but......

Why would an international commute policy be different than a domestic one? It's STILL a "choice".

The way I heard it was you had to have citizenship but that was third hand so probably wrong I guess?

In the days of yore;

​​​​​​​Could be wrong, but IIRC, ~2019 it changed.

I met a FA who commuted Sydney to Newark.

not sure why he didn’t just stop in SFO, but whatever.

You can do it, but you won't do it for long. It's god awful.

You're basically living in base and taking extended vacations abroad to visit family every month. It won't feel like you think it will.

I'd love to do exactly this one day, probably many years from now. Having lived in Europe for six years, I enjoy the pace of life and the feeling of safety much better.

Any legacy pilots commuting from/to Asia?

Luckily, you can commute via non rev or hichhiking on cargo flts thesedays,

But How do you manage your pbs bidding to make your life and commute the most effectively?

Of course, a decent seniority has to come in to play a little bit.

Recently flew with a junior guy commuting to Japan. He hopes to bid for large blocks of days off on reserve and possibly match them together in the interface between months. Theoretically getting you 20-22 days off in a row for one commute leg per month. At AA you have to contend with coverage dates that will often torpedo this plan though, some months worse than others.

There are thousands of places to live in the US that are just as safe as Europe if not more so.

Whether they actually are or not, many large cities in Europe FEEL safer than counterparts in the US, which is what the person you quoted said. Small towns and rural areas are are more similar to each other.

No offline international on Brown.

If safety is your concern there are numerous nice places in the US, big and small, to fit the bill. You don't need to do an international commute for that (might be other reasons).

About to start commuting from Asia. Luckily my base is only 3 timezones away and I can get my schedule to about 11-12 days in a row every month.

At a previous airline the commuter policy in the contract only covered CONUS commuting. OCONUS and you're on your own for accounting for missed trips. That might be why it is different. Definitely good to know the specifics of each contract's commuting section before attempting a long haul commute.

I commuted from Germany to a major western US hub for 2 years. German wife wanted to try it out after living in the USA so I went with it. I was quite senior and able to fine tune my schedule almost any way I wanted. Also had flight bennies on multiple airlines plus almost unlimited ZEDs. Takeaways:

1) Much easier if you live in a gateway. I did not and the commute after landing in Europe was up to an extra 3-6 hours as a result. If I did it again i'd live close to FRA, CDG, AMS, LHR, maybe MUC and thats about it. The rest dont have enough frequency for me.

2) I always spent 3ish days recovering from time change at home. Even though I bid early morning work, my body knew the difference when I shut the drapes at 5pm with the sun shining bright and lay awake for hours without being able to sleep. No real solution I found over two years to get decent sleep.

3) I spent an average of around $300 on taxes and fees. Sometimes more for a ZED and train tickets. No matter how you commute out of Europe, I dont know of a way to avoid the taxes. Brittain is horribly expensive, Germany not so much less. Add the other fees in and I had a significant addition cost to my monthy budgets.

4) I was more physically affected than I expected. I got biz class about half to 2/3 of the time and still there was an effect. But sitting in the back middle seat from SFO to FRA for 11 hours over and over again has its effects on your back, neck, ass, and other things I wont go into here. No way around this one either.

After two years my wife assessed and decided she's prefer a healthy husband to a zombie and we moved back. I wouldn't do it again unless I was working one 4-7 day trip per month and no more. It'll have to wait until I retire at which time I'll likely expat and leave forever. If I cant wait that long I'll retire early and escape the great USA. Hope that helped.

I worked 10 on, 5 off, living in DC, working in Spain for 6 years. All but 1 year 2 leg commute. Honestly didn't feel that bad to me at the time, when I was 30. Don't think I could do it now.

Where in Asia?
I dont see any Asian region where only 3 time zones away even from the westcoast.
or Am I just dumb?
Enlighten me please.

Guam? (UAL base)

Saying Guam is in Asia is like saying Mexicans speak Mexican.

Ask a Spaniard about that lol...

How about saying Gaum is within 3 times zones of somewhere in Asia?

At EAL, we had a B727 captain doing that commute to NY. Very senior, bunched up both ends of the months, so it was basically 30 on/30 off. QF F/As knew and took care but this was before lie flat seats, etc. Guys I heard the story from said, he not of odd duck, up all night, sleep at odd hours, not top of the game sometimes. So, it was possible even 40+ years ago,

Step it up a notch, ask a Catalonian or a Basque.

My wife is from another country a long way away. She asked me about commuting from where she grew up. I told her no.

I said Guam was a UAL base, where did you get that I said Guam was Asia????

Man I hated my sub-1 hour commute with 18 flights/day. I couldn't even imagine considering this. Some people are built different I suppose.

It’s a Jackal!

https://youtu.be/VbOPpgrTXh8?si=2pF0FejOpZfzlpG-