commute to reserve by jumpseating or pass riding is gonna be hard especially if you have a family. You’ll have to sit in crash pad or hotel on short call or field standby a lot. As a LH you can possibly move or drop trips and manage your commute and trips better. How far of a commute we talking? 2 hours by plane? Now if we’re talking Las Vegas to west coast base probably ok… depends a lot on flight availability.

Commuting to NB reserve is a life-draining experience, particularly if you aren’t flying from a major airport for the commute. My vote would be for the two leg commute to a line any day. You’ll end up spending much less time away from home.

Option C: none of the above.

Two leg to the line with aggressive pickup of trips at the one-leg hub

lot more options as a line holder

Aggressive pickups are only for reserves. Out of base pickups for lineholders are a different animal.

either way. Aggressively explore opportunities to acquire trips in a base you prefer

I think the movement is getting so good that it makes sense to get into the base you want ASAP. Even on reserve, you can often manage your work days through APU to show up as late as possible on Day 1 while getting released as early as possible on your last day. If the base is senior enough you might not get abused like SFO/EWR reserves do. If money is tight in the near term then being a LH makes sense… but all that extra commute time will make you wonder if it is worth it.

Just look up how trading works in the UPA. I don’t think you quite understand what an out of base pickup is.

Thank you all for the information. That’s very helpful!

Commute to 756 EWR/DCA
 

Contemplating commuting to 756 EWR or DCA on RSV during the probationary year. Could someone suggest best hotel/crashpad options at either base?