Commuting JAX to EWR
 

Anyone commute out of JAX? As EWR seems to be the most likely junior base, I am curious how tough it is to get back and forth. All the flights are on RJ's, any issue getting a seat? What happens if you can't get a seat for the ride up and you miss your event? How many seats are typically available?

Thanks,

Adam

Plan on full flights and somebody beating you to the jumpseat and you'll be fine. :(

I used to fly that route all the time at Xjt. Mst of time it was full with both cockpit and fa Jumpseat occupied.

Can UA pilots sit on the FA Jumpseat?

No and there's no good reason for it.

I have sat on the Express Jet 50 seat ERJ second F/A Jumpseat before. I mean the one that slides out from behind the last row of seats and locks up against the lav door. It is awkward to say the least sitting there in the middle of the aisle blocking the lav door. The routine is once the F/A starts the service, to put the second Jumpseat away and go sit in the primary F/A Jumpseat so the lav is no longer blocked. Then move back to the second one for landing obviously. The whole thing is (was?) up to the captain and the F/A. On a longer flight it becomes an even less attractive idea. Also, in a sudden turbulence event the F/A has no place to go quickly with that second Jumpseat put away. Really isn't a good idea in my opinion.

The commute is going to blow, no matter what. I would not bother entertaining the idea of moving to a base as a new hire though. Not at least until you get a good number of people below you and this company starts demonstrating that it is capable of avoiding posting financial results like the disaster Q1 2014 is going to be. Good luck.

If you accept right now that you're going to be sitting in a crashpad, commuting up a day early to make it then life will be much less stressful. ;).

It is what it is bro, welcome to being the FNG again.

Absolutely you can sit in the FA jumpseat on XJT planes. FA's have priority but if there aren't any its all yours. Its insanity that the same thing doesn't apply on main line planes. A JS is a JS, no crew should be left behind with it empty.

And to think we used to fly 737-500s (i.e. the two jumpseat birds) there on a consistent basis from EWR.

FYI this is false. Just had an XJT guy in our jumpseat the other day. They just recieved an alert bulletin from their company within the last two weeks that changes the policy. Now the second jumpseat can be occupied by any FA and XJT pilots ONLY. It is very clear that effective immediately no OAL pilot may occupy this seat. It sux big time as a commuter but don't shoot the messenger.

The commute is rough. We/I used to fly 737's on this route, but the EMB-170's took it over. We have some very senior commuters out of JAX that get the jumpseat. As in senior I mean 737 check airmen that were hired in late 1980's. Some of the times, they will drive to Orlando (MCO) to catch a flight out of there to get to EWR.

MCO is way easier to commute out of (I've been doing it for 8 years) because there are no RJ's on this route and we have Jetblue as a backup for a straight shot into EWR. On average a total of 12 flights a day between us and Jetblue. Just food for thought.

The reality is going to be how much can you stand commuting to a base from an airport with RJ service. When one of those things cancel, the entire day and next day is ruined. You will most certainly be going up the day prior. At least JAX has mainline to other locations. You can two hop commute if needed. I used to live at an airport with only RJs. I told my wife, when we decide where we're going to live, the airport can't have RJ only service. :p

You're not technically prohibited from sitting in the aft FA seat. The bulletin only provides a guidance for the order. If you want the long story, this has more to do with L-UAL FAs refusing to let XJT FAs onto their jumpseats but at the same time demanding the XJT jumpseat. There was a ton of drama and now this is what it is. CAL pilots were always on the list but due to no official reciprocal agreement, they were removed.

Tell the L-UAL FAs to get on board and it'll be easier for everyone.

Seconded. In fact, sat next to a commuting L-UAL FA while deadheading IAD-ORD on an RJ and she saw I was XJT and started asking about the aft jumpseat and the drama that's been associated with it. I tried to explain it to her but she just could not wrap her head around the fact that it was HER group that had caused the issue for everyone and was the reason that she was sometimes denied the aft jumpseat. I was even more blown away when she flat-out refused to accept my suggestion that she speak with her union about the issue, stating that it was an "Express issue. And it's you guys who need to address the issue with your flight attendants." I finally threw my hands up and told her that with UAL's current policy of "All RJs, all the time unless it's international, west coast, DCA, BOS or a vacation destination" it was her and her group that was suffering the most. Don't know if it ever finally computed for her but...just wow.

Just thought to add as it relates to the discussion...

I am an XJT CA and I will put just about any pilot on the aft jumpseat for whatever reason (W&B, jumpseat MELd, two guys trying to go, etc.) and most of our FAs are fine with it. I will usually give my FA some discretion when it comes to putting an FA on the aft jumpseat and it seems to be about 70/30 with them (in favor of granting the jumpseat). Just my way of avoiding a cat fight at FL370 where I can't watch!:cool:

That said, I can only think of one time where I overrode the working FA and put the jumpseating FA on an oversold flight (trying to get home for some emergency). Sadly, no catfight.

That's a lot of cities. I commute out of the largest airport in one of the largest cities in the Southeast (Atlanta) and it's all RJs. We have RJs to an awful lot of places that would seem to warrant larger airplanes.

Marketing think the pax prefer 6 flights a day on the ERJ to 3 per day on the B737.

You need a good deal with the ERJ boys and girls. To get it you have to give a good deal to the ERJ boys and girls!!