Back on topic to the OP:
Whether commuting is worth it depends a lot on your personal situation. A few questions to ask yourself:
Do you NEED the additional money? Or maybe, how much do you need it?
Do you have a spouse/kids?
How easy is it for you to lose that 2 hours of sleep every week?
Can you commute in 1 leg?
How many flights/day between the 2 cities and how much competition might you have for the jumpseat?
How much of your pay will you have to spend on hotels/crashpads? And how much does that close the gap between the airline you'd be in base with?
How long do you expect to have to commute to reserve?
How long do you expect it will be until you can hold a commutable line?
I commuted from DEN to the eastern time zone for a month and a half...not that long. My commute was 1 leg with a good 8 flights/day between the 2 cities...also not bad. And I HATED it. I hated it to the point I've withdrawn my apps from 2 legacy airlines because I can't move for family reasons and they don't have DEN bases.
It took me ALL DAY to make that one leg commute, once I considered needing 2 chances to get the jumpseat, and I lost the 2 hours in time zones, plus my drive plus the 30 mins it takes to get from the DEN employee lot to KCM, plus the 20 mins from KCM to a gate, plus the 30+ mins you have to be early to get the jumpseat, plus a fudge factor in case something went a little wrong (traffic, etc.), plus the wait for the hotel shuttle at the other end. I had no idea how quickly everything would add up. I would literally commute home after my reserve block, get in after midnight, spend the day at home alone getting whatever honey-do stuff done that I could get done, see my kids from when they got home from their after school activities until bedtime, and have to leave the next morning to head back to work for another 6 days. Some weeks I got one extra day off, though never a weekend.
Since I got based half an hour from the airport...life is awesome. I'm still on reserve, but I spend 22+ nights per month home with my kids, get enough flying to keep me proficient and happy, but enough time off to keep me sane, and I don't have to worry about my kids starting to wonder who that strange man is hugging Mommy.
Now...my wife works and between the two of us we make enough to be comfortable. We'd all like more money, but any extra I'd make would be fun money, not the difference between my kids having dinner or not. If I was solely responsible for supporting my family, things might be different. Also, I've only ever been on reserve, I'm sure the gap in QOL is less once you hold a line. As I said, every situation is different, so I can't recommend to you what to do, only give you things to think about.
I will agree with some of the previous posters though...if you feel like you need to chase a check enough to consider commuting two time zones west to east, why did you decide to dismiss Endeavor and the AA wholly owned airlines? They'd pay you a lot more than Commutair would, it's the same nightmarish commute, and you get the flow, just in case. The only scenario that I can imagine that would make sense at all is if you expected to be on reserve for a long time and you had family a short drive from a junior Commutair base that have a spare bedroom for you. And even in that case...Endeavor, and the AA WO would have to have really long reserve expectations to make it worth it. If you can't move but the money is that important, go to 9E. If it isn't, find an airline where you can live in base.