I missed that poll if it happened. It may have happened under the old SWAPA 1.0 super secret “Sadaam yes or no” polling system that they used to decide on vacation bidding in 2014.
In the last few years the company has tilted to over 50 percent commuters which tells me that a lot of folks would be interested if the terms were sufficient.
Of course this would be a highly divisive issue. I commute and as it stands now, I would be against it. Too much to lose and very little to be gained.

The satellite base poll was a question in one of the recent contract surveys, within the last year.

It is a divisive issue and there was not enough membership support. Sure the guys in BNA, TPA, STL like the idea in theory. But that’s only a portion of the overall commuter demographic. The rest of the commuters (and everyone else living in a domicile) will see a reduction in lines and there’s no guarantee that the lines in the satellite base will be diverse and desirable enough for the locals to bid.

Not only would pairings in base suffer, but the satellite base trips would also be of limited choice and flexibility. Probably even worse.

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I’d much rather see some commutable lines than satellite bases. 50% of the pilots commute and there aren’t any entirely commutable lines? Absurd!

Would they be less efficient? Yes. Would they pay less? Probably so. Would they PM turn AM? Yup.

When I commuted would I have bid them anyway? You better believe it!

EVERY other airline provides some options for commuters to bid. I think we should too.


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Zap, we have some. I flew commutable trips the whole month of August and almost the whole month of July. They are becoming more prevalent, but still rare.
I also agree that a wide variety of lines in each crew base would be preferable to a satellite domicile. I know a lot of guys complain about late AM check in turned early PM release, but those are what I seek out. I enjoy my overnights, but only because I am stuck there alone. I would much rather be making money or at home.
Of course, in 10 years from now that may not be the case.

I’m not talking individual commutable pairings E6B. I’m talking about full lines that were constructed solely with commutable pairings.


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Oh yeah. You are correct. Those do not exist. I have to cobble my flying together from a combination of my original line, ELITT, and open time. It is a pain. I am just not a fly my line kind of guy and won’t be until my kids are done with college.
Commutability is the single most important thing I look for in a trip. In fact, I switched to Dallas and took a seniority hit in October because they jacked around with the flights to my commuter city. I plan on driving when I can’t fly both ends of my pairing. I hate hate hate staying in a hotel when I could be at home. It drives me insane.

Have you looked into owning a small plane? I hear there are quite a few guys in DAL who commute on their own planes. I ran into a few in MDW too.

I’m a copilot. I can’t afford an airplane. I can barely afford a used Subaru.


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Just four more payments and my 2004 Pontiac Aztec will be all mine.