Is it hard to get 1 or 2 day trip assigns?
 

Specifically with the regionals. I know the majors are very seniority based but vary from airline to airline. Some guy I know has worked with Spirit for 6 months and is home with his newborn every night. I hear at other companies like Delta it can take decades.

What about with the regionals? Are there any specific companies that are known for early flexibility (mainly curious about Piedmont, Republic, Air Wisconsin @PHL)?

Old buddy just got hired by Piedmont and they seemed very open to giving in to his demands (he basically told them he needed to be based in PHL and they said no problem). Never got a chance to ask him about scheduling flexibility.

At PDT, you can have any schedule you want, as long as it's 4 day trips with 2 days off and one 3-4 day off block!!! Min days off are 11, and that's prob 80% of the lines. Welcome to the show…

The short answer to your question is no. Spirit is known for it's top notch quality of life and scheduling ability. That's the place you want to be if you want to be home as much as possible. Regional airlines and flexibility are two things that don't really go hand in hand. Envoy has a very small amount of 1 and 2 day trips but they obviously go ultra senior. The other airlines I'd be speculating about, but I believe Republic is mostly 4 day trips, if not completely. Piedmont is very short staffed so those guys are working quite a bit, and AWAC is shifting from AA flying to United flying so I'd imagine the PHL base is going away for them. And ALL airlines are very seniority based.

Envoy has the same **** show.

Compass has alot of 4 day trips. But 2 and 3 day trips are common as well. Majority of the flying from a single type trip is from 4day trips. I think little less than half our total monthly block is from 4 day tips. Min days is 11 and 12 (30/31 day months). 15 off and 80 hours is average for me, and I bid fairly senior FO but commute in and out the day of. If I didnt, I could probably swing 90+ and 15 off every month. If you dont bid for commutable trips thats actually not that hard to do. Lots of long flight(for a regional), two leg days. Especially out of LAX. LAX-DFW-LAX-SFO is pretty high credit day. We used to have DTW-MTY-DTW which was usually built as a 35hour or so 5 day trip. But mainline flies that now. Average line is 75-80hours and 15 off or so. Give or take a day depending on the number of days in a month and if peak season or not.

The closest you can get to 1 and 2 day trips with scheduling flexibility might be PSA. The sap enables you to basically construct your own schedule by dropping trips that you don't want and exchanging them for more desirable trips. (desirability is based on your personal preference if that comes in the form of a 1 or 2 day trip). Too many options to list here in how you could build your schedule. Sap is basically first come first served, and not senority based, with the only requirements being that you are a lineholder and the schedule you build dose not run afoul of FAR 117

I don't fly overnights at OO except for high credit stand-ups.

I'm at SkyWest and it depends by base and also can change from month to month. After only a year, I would get some months that were only one day and two day trips, and then the following month all 4 day trips. I'm at a pretty senior base so your mileage may vary. A friend of mine is in a junior base and gets all 1 day trips consistently.

Thanks everyone for the feedback

Depends on the base and company. Republic at EWR for example. It's mostly commuters who are there for seniority while they wait for higher seniority at a closer to home base. They typically bid longer trips so they don't have to commute every 2 days. A few lucky people like me live in base at EWR and are then left with plenty of day trips and 2 day trips.

Haven't done a 4-day since my time on reserve years ago. Even if you can't hold it, how much you can trade makes a difference.

At Mesa IAH, it takes about two years to be able to hold purely 3, 2 and 1 day trips. We have a few Check Airmen that live in base, so most of the few day trips that we have are generally reserved for IOE. Regular line F.O.s can't get them.

Yes. Yes it is.

At Republic it's NOT primarily 4 day trips. If anything, in some months we could use MORE 4 day trips as some months, less than 20% of the trips are 4 days.

That said, it is HIGHLY base dependent. Some bases (like LGA) for example are by far mostly 1-2 day trips due to the type of flying and RON (remain overnight) aircraft there. Others lean towards longer duration trips. Overall, there's a good mix here but it does vary from base to base so your experience may vary. However in no way is it mostly longer trips. Also the ability to trade or drop trips below 75 hrs has never been better, but that will last only as long as we are "overstaffed" (company term, pilots would argue "properly staffed").

So in summary, depending upon the base, it would be very easy for a junior pilot to hold a schedule of just 1-2 day trips at Republic.

SkyWest here.

Lots of stand ups available. 1-2 day trips are obtainable depending on base.

I've done less than a half dozen four day trips and probably only a dozen or so three day trips in the last 5 years. And I've bid those on purpose. Usually only fly locals, split duties, and the occasional 2 day. Pretty typical that I only take the overnight bag out once every two to three months. Mid level seniority (as in close to 50 percent) at OO in SLC.

That same level of seniority in MSP might mean nothing but four day trips. It really varies by domicile.

It's going to depend on base and major partner more than regional airline.

The length of trips really isn't up to the regionals, practically speaking. They get assigned flying from the majors, and much of that flying includes the last evening flight to the outstation, and the first flight morning flight to the hub.

Both of those flights are each going to involve a RON crew, unless it's a standup/highspeed which will require one crew. The number of outstations served by a hub, and which flights mainline covers, is going to determine the need for RONs...the regional then has to build trips which cover all of the RON's. Regionals would vastly prefer to NOT buy you a hotel and to NOT pay your per diem and trip-rig while you sleep.

For those of you who don't understand why there aren't more locals, it's because Locals cover zero RON's.

Two days have a 50% RON coverage/Duty Day ratio.

Four days have a 75% RON coverage/Duty Day ratio.

Standups have a 200% RON coverage/Duty Day ratio. If mainline's schedule (and the stage length) allows legal standups, they are best RON bang for buck.

Looking to get an update on this. From what I’ve been seeing, it seems like almost all regionals had moved to exclusively 4-day trips. How accurate is this? What about Horizon?

Go to a Regional that has a base in NY, move there, and you can have as many one and two day trips as you want. That's because NY based airports are mostly commuter bases because nobody in their right mind would want to live in that overpriced, over polluted, over crowded, liberal hell hole. Commuters usually want 3 to 4 day trips so they have less commutes/nights in crash pad.

In the five years since you first asked this question things have only gotten worse.
Staffing is worse which leads to more 4 day trips, with inefficient locals added to get you up to max duty days for minimum pay.
Flight Schedules have been cut which leads to longer sits between flights, which leads to less efficient trips which leads to max duty days for minimum pay.
Pay is up from what it was when you first asked, but inflation is up even more, so your pay and per diem for overpriced airport and hotel food don't go as far. That is if you can actually get something to eat between flights because of the excessively long lines to the understaffed airport concessions.

Back in the day that used to go pretty senior. Not sure about lately.

I think the real question the OP is asking is it it possible to be home most nights as a junior pilot. The answer is no at most airlines, but maybe not all.

Yes, that’s exactly what I was wondering about too… Thank you for the information! Then I guess biggest question is - which ones are those (perhaps few) airlines that would allow a junior pilot to be home most nights?

Horizon has airport reserve. It is available right out of the gate and you’re home almost every night. Senior folks bid for it to be home. People also use it if doing online college, stuff like that. You hardly ever fly.

If you actually want to fly a line though you won’t see many trips less than 3 or 4 days.

Thank you for the information! That’s exactly what I was wondering about.

Being home most nights and being an airline pilot are not usually synonymous, especially when junior. At some point you’re going to have to bite the bullet and deal with being gone 12-16 nights per month and have an honest conversation with yourself about whether or not you and your family can handle that.

Allegiant is one of the few airlines that do mainly out and backs, but if you’re just barely qualified for a regional then I’m not sure they would look at you. Most places have majority 3-4 day trips, so I don’t think you’re going to be able to totally avoid that. May want to base your regional selection criteria on different factors if that is unavoidable, because those other factors may be important to your family (schools, safety, cost of living, etc).

Hopefully you find something compatible with you and your family. Best of luck.

Yes, thank you so much! Yeah, my family and I completely understand - traveling and being away from home comes with the job. That’s fine, it’s unavoidable. I am just trying to figure out ways to keep spending the nights away from home to a minimum. We would even be moving to wherever I end up being based.

If I could choose my perfect schedule, I’d prefer to only be away from home 2 nights per week. Even 3 nights per week is alright really - especially if it is not 3 nights in a row. But I really don’t want to be away from home more than 12 nights per month. So I’m just trying to figure out the regional airlines that would be most likely offer that.

From what I’ve been reading, Piedmont and Mesa don’t seem to be good for that. PSA, SkyWest, Horizon, and CommutAir better. Not sure how accurate all that is though? And don’t know about Envoy and AirWisconsin at all, to be honest.

The only pilot hiring Horizon plans to do in the next 18 months is two pilot development cadets per month while they park all their Q400s, half their fleet. Their management would rather shrink and go to an all E175 fleet than compete for pilots. If you aren’t already in Horizon’s pilot development program I would scratch them off your list.

MIAMIA,

Last I checked Silver Airways is home every night or close to it. Not sure if it’s still the same, but for a long time that’s how it was. You’d be flying ATRs and or another turboprop. Pay was terrible, but they got a TA/ new contract that greatly improved it in the recent past. If you are dead set on being home more than away you may want to consider options other than 121.

There are many flying jobs in 135 where you are guaranteed to be home for the most part. Some of those options are medevac, feeder cargo, and others. Only thing about the 135 side is there is a much greater variance between what is considered a good company and what’s not. You need to do due diligence before accepting an offer. If a company pushes a training contract your way, consider if that’s something you really want to do. It isn’t always a red flag, but unfortunately many times is. These are not uncommon on the 135 side even up to now.

Bottom line is that the most prestigious, highly sought after, and best paying jobs in the flying part of this industry are 121 major px and cargo. You will likely be gone 30-50 percent depending on a variety of factors, especially when junior. YMMV but that appears to be the overall situation from my point of view. Best of luck.



Edit: Silver appears to be sticking with their traditional home most night schedules. Pay is also livable.

https://www.silverairways.com/careers

Thank you so much for the info! I’m going to look into 135 and Silver for sure. Even if I have to be gone around 8-12 nights per month - that’s okay. I just really want to make it is not end up being more than that.

If you live in base at any regional and do 4 4-day trips in a month you’d be looking at 12 nights. With a little seniority you could do better than that.

True, but won’t be doing 1 and 2 day trips like what’s in the title of the thread except in a relatively small amount of companies without seniority. Takes years to get that seniority, except in bases where everyone commutes. Also, unless the OP wants to be moving to a new base for his upgrade, and then again when moving on to a major, and then again when upgrading at said major, and possibly with equipment changes at said major, then the whole 1- 2 day thing can easily fall apart.

If you stay in the same seat in the same base and ride the seniority wave then you’ll be able to hold that type of thing when you get the seniority and as long as the music doesn’t stop (bad economy, wars, etc). This would slow progression in your career, but then that comes down to what matters most to you. To progress at a “normal” or faster pace, if there is such a thing, then 1-2 day trips probably won’t be a thing in most 121. But having 12 nights gone could be a thing, especially living in base.

I live in base about an hour from the airport, and I still bid 3 day trips, sometimes 4 day if the trips are worth it. I could easily get 2 day trips, but I don't want to drive that much with gas going above $5/gallon. I'm married with 3 kids and the longer trips give me more days off in a row.

That sounds wonderful. Honestly, if I could even just do mostly 3-day trips, I’d be happy. Would you mind sharing at which airline you are? And how is your seniority?

That’s a good point too. I’d really prefer to not be gone 3 nights in a row, but I guess I’d just have to accept that and hope that better things come with seniority. Thank you for your answer!

I prefer longer trips and more days off in a row personally. That’s more down time to be present at home which is more important…

RPA and I'm bidding just inside the top 50% in base. I get good trips, the flip side is I usually don't get the days off I want, so there's always a compromise.

Smart. I know an FO that only bids 4 and 5 day trips. Gets 3 trips per month and usually has 4 or 5 days off in-between each trip and will sometimes pick up a day trip on his stretch of days off.

It’s not available at every base so just a word of caution there. The info Ravenwing gave is accurate as well. If you’re not in the PDP you can count Horizon out.

If you want to be an airline pilot, be prepared to travel. Plans change, companies change, schedules change, bases change. A lot of change in the airlines has nothing to do with what you want and many things are like phases or temporary situations. If your family can’t handle you doing four day trips, airlines aren’t for you.

Virtually zero schedule flexibility at Piedmont.
Air Wisconsin isn’t PHL based.

Republic is your best bet if you want schedule flexibility at the regional and want to be able to be hired at AA.