Commuting Advice
 

Looking for some feedback on how to minimize commuting pains. I live in NYC and have a car (crazy I know) so option 1 is to drive to ACY and rack up thousands of miles a month, and second option is commute out of EWR. Ideal situation would be to go to a base with longer trips and the possibility of doing back to back trips just to avoid commuting back to NYC as often.

Reserve FO with little need to be home. TIA

move to a base. commuting make this a totally different job

Is it possible to move? That’s a bad situation all around. There’s no great options.

No way am I’m moving to any base while this JetBlue things pans out. So many variables with NK currently snd their reshuffling, compounded by JBLU then coming in and tweaking how they want it.

No way to know what the best “move” is right now.

one year lease in NYC that just started a few days ago so moving is unfortunately not an option. Eyeing IAH and LAS after lease is over so just need to make something work for next 12 mos.

I wouldn’t move to base right now, after all if the JB merger goes through NYC will be great since you live there already. That being said if you’re on reserve everywhere it’s going to stink no matter what. If it were me I would look at DTW or ORD (yes I am aware they are shrinking those) but those are a much shorter commute with lots of flight options from NYC. Good luck.


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Have you ever commuted? You're likely going to need a crashpad or pay for commuter hotels. Spirit moved to more 1,2, and 3 day schedules. We still have a lot of 4 days, but be aware we have a mix, so it is tough for commuters. Also, if you are on reserve, you will get a lot of 1,2 and 3 day trips, so you will doing a lot of back and forth to the airport. The best way to get control of your schedule is to get off reserve and get a line, and the best place for that is FLL/MIA. All of the decent commutes like DTW, ORD, DFW, LAS are going to be way more senior. The problem with South Florida is that the flights are always full and ATC is a mess in both NYC and South Florida, so you will use the commuter policy a ton.

Like I said, there are no easy options for you.

yes have done 3 leg redeye commutes on cargo carriers for prolonged periods before. so one leg on a passenger jet is nothing to me. sounds like going for a line asap is the move though.

Just drive to ACY. We have Long Island pilots and Connecticut pilots, Washington DC pilots, and even a Binghampton, NY pilot. You're not more than 3 hours away so to me it's a no brainer.

forgive me for not knowing but what is the significance of 3 hrs?

"Ready to depart in 3 hours" for reserve assignment. You also get 15 minutes to call back once scheduling calls to notify you.

it isnt 3 hours to show.

From the ALPA NewHire guide for reference:

"Our SCR “callout” time frame is often misunderstood. The requirement is that the pilot be ready to push no more than three hours from notification, not necessarily the aircraft ready to push. We advise that a pilot arrive with enough time such that the required duties and safety checks for which he is responsible be accomplished within three hours from callout.
Example: A pilot on R03 can be called at 0300 for a 0515 report (0600 push)."

Not sure if you have any knowledge on Pt135/fractional life, but what are your thoughts on commuting at Spirit for 2-3 years vs being home-based at a fractional like FlexJets or NetJets? The end goal would be 121 with a legacy. While I know people make great lifelong careers at Spirit, I just wonder if quality of life at a home-based fractional would be better than commuting for at least a couple years?

I worked 135/91 for years before going to a regional. I commuted from dfw to nyc at the regional, and my quality of life was infinitely better than that lifestyle, once I got a little seniority. It’s nice to show up and fly the airplane and not deal with FBOs, rental cars, catering, etc. Fractionals fly a ton of legs and are really efficient. I mainly do 1 or 2 leg days here at spirit. No brainer for me.

Ah gotcha. Google maps says 2hr40min to ACY at this very moment, and its a relatively low traffic time of day right now so Im not sure I can bank on this without at least heading 40 min in the direction of ACY everytime im on SCR.

On another note, im a bit worried about the drive home after a potentially long work day. I can make it through a 13hr duty period but that extra 3 hrs to get home will
be brutal. With that in mind would you still recommend driving to ACY? Curious how the others who drive from CT and NY make it work.

The problem with ACY is the lack of rail services.
Have you looked at crash pads near KACY?

I have a car, a fairly gas efficient one at that too thankfully. So no need to deal with amtrak

If I was in your situation I would drive to ACY. If on reserve just keep an eye on things and always be ready to leave within a few minutes. If things are going south or lots of trips in open time just head an hour closer to airport and hang there.

As someone who has commuted for 121 now for seven years, I would drive in a heartbeat. Just knowing you are in control of your own destiny is huge.

Long Call Reserve has been going junior in ACY as of late. There are downsides to it but it would make your drive easier. They have 3am reserve there where you know about it the day prior or your phone rings at 3am. If you were anxious you could set an alarm and check your schedule at 230am and bug out of the city.

Most of the rush hour traffic in the morning is going INTO the city. And vice versa in the afternoon

I’m starting in November and hopefully ill
get the ACY base and the reserve isn’t that long.

is ACY still a small senior base with no movement ?

Might be cheaper to just a girlfriend there, preferably one of advanced age.

yes…………..filler…

Another option is to drive someplace 2 hours from AC and hang out for a bit. Chill in a Starbucks and sip coffee and watch Netflix, go to a park or a mall and walk around, etc. If they call you, you're in position, if not, go back home. Not ideal for R3, but later ones, yeah. Driving will just about always beat out air commuting.

would you say this holds true for driving to reserve vs flying to a line trip?

In my opinion yes, although that is highly dependent on how much the reserves are used.

There's a couple of DFW guys who do this. They drive within a couple of hours of the airport and hang out. If they get called for reserve, they go in for the trip. If not, they drive home after a certain amount of time. Doesn't seem fun.

correct. We have done it and a few still do. It sucks especially now that fuel is high

Looking to try to understand what my QOL is going to be like on reserve a little better… I have a class date in November.

I live an hour and 50min drive from base best case, some rare days can be 2:20-2:40. I guess I had understood the “3hr callout” to be 3hrs from the time they call to walking into the plane. Last few posts show that’s not quite it.

At my current job (135) we only have an hour reserve callout so I’ve been either going and sitting at my crashpad or driving halfway and sitting at a Starbucks for a few hours… was hoping to get away from that and also being able to drop the crashpad all together.

So apart from that, another post mentioned that reserve trips may end up being a single leg and deadhead back or just a turn. Does that hold true as well most of the time? The other thing I was trying to get away from at my current job was a “home every night” type of schedule since I don’t exactly live in base and it’s not worth driving home if I’m going to work (or be on reserve) the next day.

Obviously the money is better where I’m at now in the left seat, but I was hoping to temporarily trade that for a little better QOL.

Which domicile. Kind of crucial for answering as they all differ heavily.

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Remember, you also have a 15 minute call back once they call you for an assignment.

So you are home on red alert, uniform hanging in the car. Phone rings, scheduling, you dont answer. 15 minute clock starts. You check Flica, see what time youre tagged, and either hit the road right then or take a breath and plan your drive. Just remember to call them back within 15 (they will continue to blow your phone up during that 15 minutes). So you technically have 3:15 from phone call to ready to depart.

Plan on working a lot as a reserve FO here at NK. Attrition isnt stopping anytime soon so I expect reserve FOs to continue to be used an abused. You finish a trip, call to check out, back on another trip...so I think you will stay busy. And yes, some assignments will be a turn and a DH back, some a 4 day, and everything in between. You're reserve, you are there for the abusing until we can change some of these reserve rules in the next CBA.

this is bad advice and bad strategy.

Cool story bro.

You get 15 minutes to call them back
You get 3 hours upon receiving notification for a trip assignment. "Pilot ready to push" from the union interpretation.

Notification is defined as "positive contact or self notification"

Wow, I'm in the same position. I live 1:20 from ACY and have been driving since I started. I'm actually considering transferring to DTW and commuting from EWR (I'm 30 minutes to the employee lot). The trips in AC suuuuuuck (all east coast, rarely go west of the Mississippi, mostly lame Florida overnights, etc). I already have a commuter employee parking pass for EWR (it's $72/mo, in case you're wondering). In my time here I've done many out-of-base pickups, and I'll use EWR for commuting for training and for personal travel.

I've done most of my pickups from DTW. It's an easy commute from EWR, anywhere from 5 to 10 flights a day between UA and DL. Getting a seat is easy; only had to ride the jumpseat once. DTW has a lot of west coast flying (which I love) and a lot of commutable trips. Lots of west coast flights with late starts and redeyes to end (or arrive at DTW around midnight, where I just fall asleep in the crew room and catch the first flight back to EWR).

Also, my first opportunity to hold captain, which will likely be in a few months, will not be in ACY. It's very senior on the captain side. So I'm also deciding if I want to commute to reserve.

I have a very efficient car (40mpg highway) as well. It's 166 miles round trip. At current gas prices the amount I would save on gas is more than enough to cover the cost of EWR parking (and this is just gas savings. There's also mx costs, depreciation, etc). Also hotels around DTW, in my experience, are pretty cheap and plentiful. I've gotten the LaQuinta for like $65. As a lineholder, if you play your cards right, you might not need more than a couple rooms a month.

Thanks! That helps a little. LAS is where I’ll (hopefully) be driving to.

this is 100 percent accurate. 3h 15m ready to push using cincos first example.

The only way this ISN’T bad advice is if you amend it by saying “.......although I would not recommend this strategy for someone on probation.”

Also nice to remember anyone can get a “tire blowout” at any time, once. Just sayin’

But if you want to drive and sit at Starbucks for 14 hours, go for it

Also, keep in mind it’s rare that you get called with minimum callout. I did 6 months of reserve in two bases and only got called once at the minimum callout. Most of the time, I would get tagged a day early, self notify, and turn my phone off and chill.

not as rare as everyone says. It happens a lot. Move up pay will also be offered. It happens more to Crews in FL bases. That said, folk’s prior experience doesn’t guarantee future results

What exactly is the advice given that isn't explicitly what's written in the CBA?

The pilot has every right to do EXACTLY what Cinco said.

That being said, you best be ready to push by 3:00 from notification.


Let's be honest here, the crew is never the actual reason for any delay anyway.

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So true. Even IF a delay is on the crew, I’m willing to bet there is a section of the CBA/manual that relieves me from the delay.