When the average person hears the word commute, they think about their daily grind to the office in a car, bus, or train. In the airline business, commute has quite a different meaning. Hearing two pilots talk about their commute or commutable trips is a window into the lifestyle of any pilot who chooses to live away from his or her domicile. The good news is that in the airline business, you can live where you want to. The bad news is that commuting can be a hair-graying experience every time you go to work.
When I worked for a regional airline from 2000 to 2005, I was fortunate that I could simply drive to work like the rest of the suburbanites around Washington, D.C. But when I was hired at my current airline, I was assigned a base in New York City. Suddenly, I was thrust into living the lifestyle that I swore I’d never do—that of a commuting pilot. Moving to the high-cost New York area wasn’t really an option with the starting pay at my airline. Besides, my wife has a good-paying job, and we love where we live in the D.C. suburbs.
Luckily, my commute is pretty easy. There are lots of flights and trains running between Washington and New York, or I can drive it in about 3.5 hours. Other pilots live so far from their bases that flying is the only option. Commuting pilots have to start planning way ahead for a trip. If my trip starts early in the morning on any given day, I usually plan to show up for work the night prior and spend the night in a crash pad, a shared-living arrangement in which several commuting crewmembers pile into a house, hotel room, or any other suitable dwelling near the airport. If my trip ends after about 9 p.m., there are no flights left that evening to get me home, sending me back to the crash pad. This type of trip is what is referred to as an uncommutable trip—both the beginning and the end of the trip require you to spend the night in a crash pad or hotel.
Because of this, commuting pilots seek out commutable trips—those that start late enough in the day that they can spend the night at home and fly in to work the day the trip starts. And, to be a truly commutable trip, you would have to finish early enough that you could catch the last flight to your home airport. If your seniority is adequate to secure commutable trips, then you can give up the expense of a crash pad and the time and hassle of traveling to/from work on your days off.
Where commuting gets its awful reputation is when things start going wrong. Weather, air traffic delays, and heavy passenger loads can gang up on the commuting pilot to keep him or her from getting to work—or arriving back home for days off. If the writing on the wall is really bad, the pilot may have to leave for work much earlier than anticipated. In fact, it’s not unusual for long-distance commuters to spend one or two of their off days just getting to work. Sometimes, after a trip is finished, they don’t even bother to go home because they may have to depart the following day for their next trip.
About the only positive aspect of being a commuter is that sometimes you can get layovers at your home airport. While the pilot technically is on duty, he or she can be at home taking care of chores and making up for those days lost at the crash pad. But counting on getting layovers at home will be a stretch for most pilots unless they’re near the top of the seniority list. In addition, your airline may not fly to your hometown, negating that option altogether.
That brings up another point. If you have to rely on other airlines to get to/from work, your boarding priority is below that of any employee at that airline. If possible, it’s best to have flights to get you to work on your airline. It also helps if the trip to work is a one-leg affair. Multiple-leg commutes can take all day or more, and further expose you to trip misconnects because of downline loads and mechanical or weather delays.
The occasional savior for pilots is the cockpit jumpseat. Since flight attendants and other nonrevenue passengers aren’t allowed to sit in the cockpit, you may end up with a seat even though you are junior to other nonpilot crewmembers on the standby list.
Your quality of life will be better if you choose to live within ground-transport range of your domicile. If the decision is made to be a commuter, try to be as close as possible to your base with a one-leg ride on your airline.
Related Articles
