Oh commuting....is bad. Commuting to reserve is worse.
Readers who've been around for a few years (like 5+) may remember I was a forced commuter for 5 months straight...and hated it. I swore I'd do everything to avoid it....yet here I am....commuting. At least I'm being paid better.
This week I had to do something I really didn't like. I had to commute up the night BEFORE reserve.
My 5 day reserve block started on Friday. Thursday evening my daughter had her belt test for her Martial Arts class. I didn't want to miss it. The test was at 6 PM. The last flight I could catch was 8:15 PM. My report time was 7:15 AM. The earliest I could get a direct flight in the morning wouldn't put me on the ground until 7:30 AM. I had to go in the night before.
She earned her orange belt at 6:35 PM. I hugged her, congratulated her and headed to the airport. The flight was oversold and I was planning on sitting in the jump seat. Thanks to the TSA and their inept screening process I was able to get a real seat! I feel bad for passengers, especially those with children as the lines are the worst I've ever seen.
I got to my hotel room at 11 PM. The 7:15 AM show time came quickly.
Thankfully it was just one leg to the overnight. The overnight was actually to the airport I flew out of as a passenger many times as a kid. It was very cool to by the Captain of an airliner flying into the airport I first flew out of as a kid.
What made it more special was seeing my wife and daughter waiting in the window of the terminal. They flew down as I had a 20 hour overnight.
I told my crew I'd meet them at the plane in the morning. I joined my family and headed off to a rental car.
We had a great dinner and visited the Johnson Space Center for the day. A bit of weather moved in. This caused a flight to cancel...which caused the next days flights to get full. My family was going to have a problem getting home.
Thanks to the TSA again my family got on. All of us have TSA Precheck so they zoomed through while I used KCM.,
Day 2 of my trip was long but easy. It was 3 legs with the last being a dead head on the same aircraft I flew in to an out station.
I arrived in base at 4:00 PM. Normally scheduling has the next day assignments done by then. There was nothing for me. I called and asked if they had any open overnight flights ( to avoid possibly having to pay for my own hotel in base). They had nothing, so I headed to a hotel.
As I was checking in I saw my assignment for the next day....a 6:15 AM deadhead to my old base (also where I live!). If I had known that I would have just gone home that night and slept in my own bed. It was 5 PM...I was tired. I checked the direct flights and they were all full...I just checked in to the hotel.
This morning I woke up way too early. The deadhead left one time. The lines for security at 5:30 AM were ridiculous. Lots of passengers missing their flights.
Just one leg to the overnight again. I have two flights tomorrow and two the next. All are in and out of my old base.
I can deal with the commuting for now as it will be short lived. In August I go back to training to train on another jet to be based at home again.
Commuting is not for the faint of heart...or those that have busy families. When I get a job at a major I will either move to the new base if there is no hope of being based at home. It's just not worth it to be a lifetime commuter. I can handle it for 3 months.
I have to think with the number of hours you have accumulated over the past 7 years, a job at a major is within your grasp. The question is, which one? QOL issues and the prospect of starting over have to be considerations, but the timing is probably the best it has been in a long, long while. Either way, good luck!
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