Curious if many commute to work with 2 legs. I know anything is possible but would a 2 leg commute be a deal breaker?

Thank you for your time. Appreciate this forum and all the help provided.

 

It's possible but most people wouldn't recommend it. You're introducing an extra layer of failure that can happen every time you try to go to work. What area are you trying to commute from? Based on that, you can probably do the research and see how many flights per day to your intermediate point, and then how many from there to the UA hub you'd want to work at. Now take into account whether they are RJs or mainline, and whether it's on UA or OAL.

Unless there is some kind of non-negotiable, unavoidable reason you have to stay somewhere, I would avoid a 2-hop commute like the plague. I know quite a few people who do a 1-hop commute and it's not uncommon for them to have to jump in their car and make the drive. People get stuck in their hotel or crash pad because they couldn't make it home. And that's with 1 hop, not two.

 

From where to where? A 1 leg commute is bad enough. I’m sure 2 is doable but I would certainly make every attempt to switch bases or eat a longer drive to skip one of the flights

 

Your home airport and likely commutes would help give a more informative response. I would recommend looking into a company with a gateway type domicile system. I’m not former Atlas, but seems to me that would be a better option than a 2 leg commute. I know a pilot that flies for Atlas but lives on a ranch in Montana as their family works cattle. I think Atlas is the perfect fit for something like that. Best of luck.

 

This is the wrong job for you if you want to live in no-man’s land and 2 leg commute to base…. You will be better off moving to base (or within a couple hours of driving) or somewhere with good amount of options by air…

 

I did it for about eight months, the caveat is I was a sim instructor at mesa and picked my schedule. I didn’t have kids, and it sucked. I flew pretty much everyone, fedex atlas, and others out of phoenix to get home. If I had kids and couldn’t pick my schedule no way in hell I’d recommend it.

I was going phx to orf, and knew it was a temporary gig. The one thing it taught me is I’d never want to fly at fedex. Memphis sort and seeing the zombies was enlightening…good folks though, just not my show.

 

Did a 2 leg commute for 6 years. One of those legs was across the Atlantic. Missed getting to work 1 time, because of a diversion. Possible? Absolutely. Would I do it again? Nah.
But I didn't really have a choice back then.

 

Now that someone mentioned sim instructing it made me think of at least 1 pilot that is a TK instructor that lives in Europe. I believe he typically has a 2 leg commute. He is able to bid his entire work schedule into a 2 week block and then he’s home for the other 2 weeks. It actually turns out to be less than 14 days because of flying days. But that is a possibility for a 2 leg commute. The other option is GUM pilots. They can do the same thing and compress reserve days into one block to limit commutes. The compressed reserve line is something that was supposed to be tested with other bases with our new PWA but I haven’t seen the company do it yet. And I believe implementation is at company discretion. So that may never happen…

 

Commute for a commuter move for a major.

 

A two leg commute is exponentially more difficult and painful than one leg. Can it be done? Yes. Should it be avoided at all costs? Yes.

But the big question is "what is your alternative?" If you need 1-2 years to move, yeah you can make it work. If you're contemplating doing it for 35 years ... no.