BizJet

My commute also has only three flights a day. It works out same day about 90% of the time. The other 10% usually involves long multi-hour sits in the crew room or a hotel room. Knock on wood I've only "Claused" out once in the past year.

This is with an AA WO, all three flights are on my metal, and the loads average 70-80%.

tinman1

Commuting is only going to be a decent option if you can fly on company metal. Otherwise, and this is doubly true for destination cities (TPA, MCO) in Florida, it's going to blow during the busier travel months as it is almost entirely mainline flights in and out of those airports with a ton of mainline commuters who will rightfully have priority on the jumpseat. Even in the cabin loads are high and you will likely be bumped by a retiree or their dependents who are coming to visit them down in God's waiting room. There will be a time in your career where commuting from FL will be a viable option, but now is not that time unless you want to work for silver. Might want to consider moving to the rust belt or whatever awesome part of the country your prospective regional has domiciles in. You'll thank me when it's all over.

sflpilot

100% accurate. I would only add it includes all major tourist cities in Florida. I would highly advise the OP to go to Silver if staying in TPA is a must. Not to be negative but honestly the reason he does not want Silver is because it's turboprops. I mean home every night and live in base vs commute to reserve and non commutable trips. I think the choice is clear. With the massive retirements coming the tprop vs jet issue will continually diminish. So many prospective 121 new hires really just don't understand the pitfalls of commuting.

Flyhayes

Commuting from Florida (MCO) in my case really isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Sure, depending on when my trips start, I might have to fly in the night before (that's true for lots of commuters), Same goes for going back. At the end of the day, I've never had to two leg it to or from work. Twice I've flown home the long way, once to TPA (rented a car) the other to JAX(had my wife waiting for me). I think I've only used my commuter clause once. The last time I tried to invoke it, my company positive spaced me on a flight (purchased a regular ticket).
I don't think that's too bad considering 4 years of commuting.
I will say that it helps quite a bit that my company offers 4 commuter hotels a month that can be used either side of a trip if needed....

Really all it takes is learning how to read and forecast the flight loads throughout the year. Sometimes it adds some unneeded worry to your day, but it usually works out.

MysteriousMrX

One of the reasons I've sometimes considered leaving 121 for a 135 that positive spaces you to the airplane, is commuting.
I still have dreams of flying a 767 or something big for a major, so that keeps me going.
But tomorrow's commute to work is oversold by 7 with 5 nonrevs listed and my priority has me behind a rampers 2nd cousins friend's dog.
Positive space ticket sure would be nice..I know 9E does it if you're having commuting issues- does anyone think that maybe, one day down the road, this will become the norm? Within limits, at least? (Because someone will choose to live in Adelaide while based in Miami)
They need us at work, why not make it easier?