There's some truth here. Anyone who might not make it to mainline for whatever reason (in truth that could be anyone, but there are some pretty reliable predictors either way), should consider carefully before getting stuck in a permanent commute situation at a regional.

Factors are family situation and the difficulty, or ease of the commute.

A bad commute to a crappy regional schedule could be worse QOL than just getting a real job in the hometown.

Thanks all for the replies. I have been commuting to Alaska - so well aware of hard commutes. We are working on becoming PHX located atleast for part of the year but have a business and house w/horses thats not ideal to chase the regional world but it's just part of it. Nope, nothing is given in aviation it's why 20 yrs after graduating with all my ratings I am back at it because it was not good times back in the late 90's early 2000's. Still the best wages / advancement potential in my tenure being around aviation. Our town has been served by TSA for a number of years - UAL flights arent going to end and during ski season we pick up American flights also - plus have other airports.

I got my commuter information and seems Compass and TSA both have generous commuter policys that outpace Skywest's. Those 3 are where applications are in with interviews at 2 so far.

Although schedules can change I’d say your own metal is the right idea.

With few flight options you are especially hamstrung in the not infrequent situation of a cancellation. #1 you miss that flight and #2 the next couple days may instantly go to zero seats

You will not be enjoying mountain town living. You will be in hotels and on the road working plus spending 40 hours a month hanging around airports hoping to get on a oversold flights. Consider a temporary relocation until you have the stability and seniority to make what sounds like a very difficult commute work.
Keep in mind that most airlines that have commuter policies still require sound judgement in planning. If you have a trip Tuesday morning early and the flights on Monday are sold out or the weather forecast sucks your going to have to leave on Sunday for your Tuesday trip.

Skywest doesn't have a commuter policy... other than to be reasonable. The SKW policy worked better for me than the contractual policy at my other regional. Commuter policies are double-edged swords... unless you're commuting between two big cities, the policy criteria are often impractical to comply with. And if you miss a commute at a union airline and DIDN'T comply with policy, they're probably going to throw the book at you. Make sure you understand what YOU have to do in order to comply with the policy, and if that's even possible on your route.

Agreed. The lack of a commuter policy was the best thing SkyWest had going. Don’t abuse it and its all good.. no need to have a certain amount of flights available etc.

Yes many of these commuter policies will require you to list for two flights to get you there by a certain time before check-in that have seats available. Out of a small mountain town with limited RJ service only this could be literally impossible. Also the computer policy is not unlimited you will only get a certain number of missed commutes within a certain time before it counts against you on the attendance scale. Once you max out the scale they will fire you. Then you will have the awkward situation of explaining what happened on future airline interviews. So you can see how most of the time commuting is a very bad idea.

That's a broad overview. More specifically stuff like this....

Two flights, on airlines in your regional's partner system (so managers can verify seat availability), both flights must have open CABIN seats with 24 hours of departure, and there must be three hours between your two flights.

PHX-LAX, not so bad. BZN-BOI, not so much...

Must read the fine print before you rely on it.

Actual example of an actual regional's commuter clause:

- Two flights, which can be on any airline. You have to arrive in order to be in position at report time.
- You need to be able to reasonably get to the gate for both flights. Do two flights leave within ten minutes of each other? If the gates are right next to each other, then you're fine. Don't lie, though.
- The burden of proof is on you to show that you aren't full of it, so save your standby/jumpseat request cards for OAL commuting. Screenshots of loads or available set maps are helpful.
- Keep trying to get to work even if your second attempt is unsuccessful.
- Don't come back with the same story every week for the same flights, because you will get in trouble for that.

That being said, I do agree that two-leg to an outstation sounds like not a fun commute.

Hi all, moving to base is not an option for me but I’m only 1.5 hour flight from an outstation with multiple daily flights to DFW. I know about crash pads but how do you guys/gals who commute to get around while on reserve? When I first started looking at regional life a place like LGA seemed easier due to the availability of mass transit but what about places where mass transit isn’t available like DFW? Anyway, looking forward to your advice! Taxi? Uber? Leave a cheap car there? Thanks in advance!