Commuting to reserve. As a junior pilot. On probation. Packed flights. Awful schedule. Defo not fun.

Add in the regular (random) cancellations that all airlines are routinely doing now and you have quite the stressful commute ahead of you.

It does. Im doing it again at a company that has real probation. However, There Is No God on RE1 was a n unusually good sapa resource at the time and positivity helps my sanity. I look at commuting like a trip to a casino. Im going to lose money, so I might as well enjoy the game.

Dont give SAPA credit for the “there is no god” resource. Was written by two line pilots not involved with SAPA.

New Hire commuting questions
 

I'm looking at being a commuter for at least the first year. I understand SW doesn't have a commuting policy. I saw on a previous post where someone said as long as you can show back up plans and miss only one or two a year that all should be well. Can someone else confirm that? Does that vary by base?

Also, what are some of the costs associated with commuting? For example, will I be responsible for parking costs? Is any lodging at base covered? I'd like to avoid some big financial surprises.

You are responsible for your own lodging and meals. You will be provided parking in one of the company domiciles even if it's not your base. Otherwise, you'll get a $50/mo parking stipend.

How is skywest training quality? Failure rate?

Any delays in training?

Is Detroit or Chicago junior?

Can you pick your plane?

Don't go CRJ if you don't like training delays. 20+ weeks for IOE right now

Training is pretty good. They know how to teach people what they need to know. Failure rate is 5% if I had to guess.
CRJ has some pretty long delays in training right now. That could continue or it change. No one knows.
Detroit is very junior, chicago probably next on the CRJ side. No ERJs in detroit. Probably middle of the pack on the ERJ.
Yes you can pick, everyone will say avoid the CRJ like the plague right now.

…I tried to search, didn’t find anything, this forum is not the best for keepin records and definitely not easy to find.

Is there any good tips for crashpads in ORD?
Yep, I know, commuting sucks, oh well… that’s the best I could get so far.

Do we have any Facebook groups for OO?

any tips is welcome. Cheers!