Hello all, I have been reading these forums for months now learning about the regionals as I transition out of the military. Bottom line is that I know commuting sucks, but the regionals do not seem stable (domicile) and I've decided that commuting is best. Anyone here commute from STL - PHL? I can see that there are 7 direct flights a day, but wondering if anyone could tell me from personal experience how bad it will be. I have an offer from Envoy too and was going to live in domicile, but I'm concerned about moving my family to one of their domiciles and being required to move domiciles at some point in the future. The Piedmont recruiter is telling me there is no reserve currently (doesn't make sense to me) and that all of their lines are commutable (i.e. start in the afternoon or finish in the morning). Can anyone please advise about that too? I've read all about the crappy schedules and the lack of more than 2 days off. Anyway, sorry so long and thanks for any advice in advance.

 

I commute. My closest airport only has two flights a day. So far it’s worked great. 90% of schedules are commutable. We don’t have reserve because we are so short staffed everyone is out flying the line.

 

Are you able to commute there and back in the same day reliably?

 

Yes sir. Just keep an eye on the loads. Helps that the Airbus has two jumpseats that are comfortable vs. the 737..

 

Piedmont recruiters tend to be pretty honest. They much rather scare you off early with the truth and have you discover you were lied to after you get on property and leave angry. The company has no reserves but is paying folks 300% premium credit for flying in days off. This is how they’re have no reserves.

Approx 1/3 of the pilot group is going thorough training (initial, transition, upgrade etc.) currently, Hence the company utilizing most pilots as much as the contract allows them to.

Piedmont has 30 jets now and should get 3x month starting next year. Expansion is a good thing in the long run.

Being military, beefing up your part 121 resume quickly will hopefully get you a call sooner by a major. Piedmont provides opportunities through that with no reserve as an FO, quick upgrade (12-18 months depending on hours) and no reserve as a Captain.

 

Thank you all for your replies. I'm excited to get on hopefully. I guess as far as commuting goes, I will learn all about it shortly. It seems a lot of people do it so it can't be that bad. I understand living in domicile is always better. I have discovered passrider.com and it seems to be a great tool for commuters.

 

Once you get on here you will have access to the travel planner also. Makes it very easy to check loads

 

I'm sure people have pm'd you already. Call them up and pick their brain. Get someone to forward your resume in to HR, it seems to speed the process up quite a bit.

 

FYI AA is closing the SLT base in Sept 2018, just a hunch but most AA guys will be commuting out of there after that. No idea where, DFW is senior base and they are all junior so the folks I’ve seen displace have gone to LUS bases like PHL and CLT.