Just because people are opting to commute to other bases doesn’t make it easy. The alternative is to commute to sit reserve. The option to commute to actually go fly vs commute and sit reserve and not fly isn’t that hard to pick which is the lesser. But that doesn’t make commuting any less of a pain. The company can’t supply enough flying for its pilots and when more than half the bases pilots sit reserve without getting a call yeah I’d rather try and go somewhere else to pick up a trip. If I was already going to commute to go sit why not go fly. It’s a huge qol hit to commute regardless if you’re commuting to base or out of base to get a trip. Their thinking is everyone lives in base and must be choosing to commute out of base to pick up trips. I’d probably say a majority of the pilot group lives outside their base.

 

Oh, now I know what you’re saying. I totally misunderstood you. Apologies.

Dropping/picking up out of base is not why people commute in this industry. If people choose to commute to do this, it’s because they would end up making more at the end of the month by picking up trips even after the hotel is paid for (for those that don’t know, crew members get crew rates at certain hotels we contract with).

So, yes, people will choose to commute and pay out of pocket to credit 90+ hours a month and actual fly.

NORMALLY though, BB saying commuting is a choice are under normal circumstances where people live out of one of the domiciles, but flies trips in their assigned base. BB thinks FOs can just move to the NE on $46/hr MMG for the month. That’s what I was referring too.

 

Does anyone have any insight on what base would provide the best commute out of RDU?

 

AND some people weren’t “choosing” to commute until BB closed IAH, MIA, and MCI in less than a year apart AND THEN had the audacity to say “you choose to commute.”
I wonder why all those originally planning to upgrade left?

 

RDU is going to be a tough commute, but look and see how many flights a day go directly from RDU to big hubs like LGA or ORD. Those would be your best bet.

 

What is the factor that makes it tough? Boarding priority and flight loads? I did a quick search for direct flights to EWR from RDU. There are around 8 direct flights per day (a few less on the weekends). PHL has around 5 during the week and DCA is similar to EWR.

 

You'll be commuting to work / home on your day offs on either or both ends of trips. Nothing better than finishing a 4 day trip to sleep in the airport and fly home the next morning. And doing the same end on the front end. If you're a commuter Republic is one of the worst options in the industry

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

I finished a trip yesterday at 10:30am. Had a 2 flight commute home and missed 3 flights. Didn’t get in till 9 and home till 10:30. Picked up a trip that starts tomorrow and spent 1/2 of today commuting to base.

 

Magnus is right that commuting can eat into your free time. I’ve landed at 11 pm and the first flight out wasn’t until 5:30 am. Naturally, I stayed at the airport instead of wasting money on a hotel.

I’m a bit of a different breed in that that stuff doesn’t bother me as much as it does the next person. To me, it’s just part of the lifestyle in the 121 world.

Would I recommend anyone living in base and driving to work? Absolutely! Would I change anything about my short lived regional career (commuting or otherwise)? Absolutely not!

As a data point, I regularly held trips that were commutable on one end. The only time I couldn’t commute on either end was when I had a reserve line and I commuted in the day prior and left the day after I got released (got assigned a trip that ended after the last flight left).

Outstations have more trips that start early and end late. Basing really matters so YMMV.

 

Because I have nothing better to do on this 4 hour sit... Jr lineholders for November (no composite, no vacation/sim)

FO
BOS 9/21
CMH 5/22
DCA 1/22
EWR 1/22
IND 3/22
LGA 12/21
ORD 1/22
PHL 12/21
PIT 3/22
SDF 11/21

CA
BOS 4/17
CMH 4/15
DCA 12/18
EWR 10/18
IND 8/18
LGA 5/18
ORD 5/10
PHL 12/16
PIT 1/18
SDF 8/18