Kind of hilarious watching SkyWest pilots try to defend their lack of language granting them REAL protection in case they missed their commute.

 

OK man. I'm not really sure what you're getting at. Like I said, it's been working for decades. REAL protection would cost me time away from my family. Your comments are so productive.

 

Isnt it usualy
COMMUTER CLAUSE
Pilots are protected from discipline for call in due to a bad commute provided

• they have 2 different flights to get to their domicile AND
• they were unable to make both flights OR both flights were heavily delayed*

*by heavily delayed it is defined that the flight would have arrived so late that a new crew would have been assigned to that original crew members flights


Crewmembers shall keep crew sked informed of their progress on their commute flights and their plan of action so that a crew swap can be coordinated if needed early on.

 

I'm curious how this works? Because you'd have to commute to abide by the policy rather than call in sick? The policy doesn't say that you can't go with only one flight... just that you don't have the protection of the policy if you do.

 

The problem is if you don't comply with the policy, and miss your commute, they will probably have to hold your feet to the fire. Under the current system common sense prevails (common sense includes managing your commute so you don't develop a track record of poor reliability)

 

Regional with the best commuter policy is Via Airlines.

You’re home based. Positive space tickets to/from your trips, and pilot keeps the air miles. No airport standby. Hotels or single occupancy room in Crew House provided every day away from home.

They’re a small regional airline though, not a large regional like most being discussed here.

 

It is funny or sad how obvious the problem is. Unions protect members against arbitrary and capricious discipline. No union = 'at will' employee. Mangement's will.

 

The airlines will never have any sympathy for commuters. Everyone else in every walk of life lives where they work. Asking for considerations because you won’t is out of the main stream.

 

The thing is in other professions, companies that hire you will let you know where your needed during an interview. If you don’t already live there, they will provide assistance in moving you to that location and if it is an expensive area they will negotiate a cost of living salary adjustment. I remember when my father got a job for a retail company, they had a realitor help us sell our house in location A, provided us with an apt in location B until we found a new house and provided us with professional moving services at no cost to my father. He was paid adequately for the area they required us to live. He wasn’t a pilot, he was a retail manager, no knock on him but not really a position that required thousands of dollars in a specialty training. No degree and about 5 years retail experience when he got that job.

Example two... A friend now flies for a regional based in Seattle, his wife was hired on at an airline the same year as a marketing manager. She was offered a higher salary due to location and assistance with moving from their previous location. Now I get that marketing is an important part of the airline staying competitive, but not necessarily a high risk job and no more important than the job of a pilot.

The reason for that is years of airlines having thousands of applicants on file, people that were just happy to have a job flying a plane no matter the location or pay. Yes commuting is a choice about 90% of the time. However, there are situations that regionals put new hires in that make living in base without living under a bridge impossible with the current pay scales, like new hires with family or any sort of debt from training that are based in LAX, SFO or NYC. Most other professions companies also pay for hotels and assist with food costs during training, yet Delta Air Lines still doesn’t cover hotel costs. Why?? The stack of resumes happily willing to pay for their hotel during training as they know in the long run it will be worth it. That is an example of many necessary evils in the industry. Pilots will sacrifice way too much in my opinion to chase the carrot

 

The last sentence I couldn’t agree with more.