crewdawg

That's just it, there is truly something for everyone. My gf prefers the "hustle" because it means way more days/nights at home. She (nor I) can stand the thought of flying a normal line every month and being gone 9+ nights/month. Most of the time, I'm back in the house before she finishes work for the day. I work around any events/appointments we have, though I do ocassionally work weekends. Not a huge deal for us becase we're able to spend so much time together during week. She's generally ready for me to take a trip anyway lol.

It's the game I play because they don't build nearly enough day trips. If they would build more than just a few lines worth of day trips, I'd just bid those and be done with it.

Gunfighter

What are the typical report times for broken trips? How far in advance are they assigned?
Is it predominantly when ATL has collapsed and driving is the only option?
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That sounds good for someone living within an hour of the airport. For a commuter it sounds miserable.

tennisguru

Well, yes, I generally assume that the schedule-clearers/WS ninjas are in base. A commuter can probably pull off some if they're a short flight away with lots of frequency (JAX-ATL, SAV-ATL, etc.). But no matter what they are going to miss out on all the last minute stuff. Second day coverage has opened the door for commuters to work the system more, but an in-base pilot will always have the best results.

crewdawg

Not ATL based so I'm not sure how it works there, but this strategy isn't driven by IROPS, though they help. No typical report times, they're all over the board. Time to award are all over the place as well, but anywhere from day off to 2 days out. I pass on some of the day of awards because I've already gotten into other things or had a beer lol. Just go look at the daily trip coverage for various categories, look at any trip that goes out to reserve or GS, and you can see what's available and when it's awarded. Catch is getting rid of your trips. Moving the award window out a day was a double edged sword because close in Swap/pot is all but negated. I like two day outawards, but we should have added language that trips 2 days out should have to run through a Swap/pot before being awarded to reserve/GS.



Ya, you mostly need to live local to excute this gameplan. I can drive to the airport, fly a BUF turn and be back in the house by 1230.

Trip7

Not that we're changing anyone's mind here but it's not way worse than reserve. It's basically having a blank line and every ARCOS call is a proffer. Obviously this hustle really only works if you live in base or a short flight to a base as some commuter hustlers take advantage of broken up trips with front and/or back DHs. A trip that's signs in at 22:00, flies 50 min block to BHM and DH back in the morning pays the same as a pilot who did a 3-3 2 day. Or a pilot that did went all the way to SFO, layover and came back. The time efficiency of "Credit Surfing" is what draws people the hustle. The big negative is you likely won't get offered that trip until about 2-3 hrs prior to report.

Overall the discussion here is about any NB A with decent seniority vs bottom 10% WB A which is about to go real Junior over the next few years. Commute to short call is not fun I heard.

MJP27

My thoughts exactly. Wore myself out on the -88 after 2 years employing that strategy. I felt I was on GS standby ALL the time. I moved over to the left seat and haven't looked back.....Now I just fly an occasional green slip for about the same pay.

Gspeed

So effectively being on a short call leash all month long until you fill up to whatever hours you need isn’t potentially worse than reserve?

Ok.

Trip7

One way or another you'll have to get credit. If you want advance notification there's always flying a regular line of normal PBS trips. If you're local and have schedule flexibility you can hit the trigger on 20 hrs of block(or less!) and minimal TAFB. It's a trade-off.

Whoopsmybad

Who honestly works 20+ days a month? Without multiple GSs? I did it once with multiple GSs, and haven’t opened that box again since. It was exhausting. And that was only 1 month.

hockeypilot44

Working 20 days of ALPA work is not the same as flying the line for 20 days. ALPA work is either done at home or putting in a normal 9-5 day at the office with a lunch break.