flyguy81

Thats what I meant. For some reason it won’t let me edit it.

Beech Dude

AA 3-Day
1: PHL-DEN
2: DEN-DFW-SEA
3: SEA-PHL

SWA 3-Day
1. BWI-ATL-MCO-ATL-TPA
2. TPA-DAL-MAF-AUS-SAT-BNA
3. BNA-DAL-MDW-BNA-ATL-BWI

*Disclaimer* Not actual sequences*

However, not far from the mark,
Drive to work, period.
Good luck.

Crimson5

This is meme is funny, but it’s wildly inaccurate and overblown. You should see the flying the NB is doing over there. As the regionals are shrinking, that flying has to go somewhere…

flyguy81

Curious what a typical AA 2, 3, & 4 days pays. They have 5 days too or is that just on the RJ side?

Typical WN 2 day pays 13-15, 3 days pay 19.5-21, 4 days pay 26.5-28.

Min days off are 15 for rsv, 16 for line holders (avg of 17).

WN has better rsv pay, AA has long call. WN has better work rules, AA has crew meals.

e6bpilot

First to correct an inaccuracy - SWA does indeed have commutable lines. Quite a few depending on the base. I have bid them or swapped Into all commutable trips. They typically don’t pay as well as non commutable trips.

SWA reserve is brutal for commuters. It’s no way to live your life. Yes, it’s only 15-16 days a month, but it’s the worst kind of short call reserve that’s legal per the FARs. Two hour callout, no trip ownership. You have to be contactable at rap start no matter what. The good news is that reserve lines are approx 15 percent of total, but still…it sucks. Trust me on this. The pay is great, but your qol is terrible especially as a commuter.

Commuting to a hard line is actually fine at SWA depending on your commute station and base. Good commuter policy, very understanding chiefs, no threat if you just choose to call in sick. Hard lines vary, but most are 12 days a month. You can trade trips with other pilots and the company with very few restrictions. You will be a line holder for the vast majority of your career.

I will let others speak to AAs scheduling, as I only know stuff second hand. I can tell you that most of my AA buds seem relatively happy with their schedules and how they are treated. I know reserve tends to be a longer slog there, but their reserve rules are much more manageable for commuters.

Cfii123

how is sitting reserve in base? specifically MCO. Do you get used a lot? Can you move days around quite easily? Could you do a 2-1-2-1 split so you only get called for 2 day trips? TIA

e6bpilot

You can choose to be a “pass” preference, but you will still get used the majority of the time depending on the season. I will defer to someone who sits reserve there to say how much they fly though. It’s definitely most days.
No, you cannot move days around easily. You can find someone to trade or take your reserve, but that’s very rare.
No, 3 or 4 day blocks. You can pick up two day or single reserve days from open time or via trip trade/giveaway, but you will not be awarded reserve blocks of less than 3 days.

mulcher

I haven’t flown a trip like that in years. Like over 10. My next 3 day has 6 legs and pays 21.4. My next two day is 5 legs and pays 14.84. It’s kinda old the 8 legs per day mantra. Do we have some 4 leg days? Yup. But nowhere near the norm. What do those 5 leg 3 days pay at AA. I know money wasn’t important to the poster. But you can work a little harder when you do work and work less days. Funny thing almost every commutable week day trip I have had. I almost never find a taker to trade with. And I’m usually looking for Sun PMs for commutable Mon or Tue trips. Strange. Maybe BWI trips just suck.

Crockrocket95

East coast trips are generally sucky. But yeah, I think ive down 1 5 leg day in the past 4 years? I usually ELITT out of any of the ball buster 4 leg days, but even some of those are not bad. BWI-ORF style runs... which are pretty cake.

The schedule isn't THAT bad...

RJSAviator76

Actually, very far from the mark.

Here's the reality of what a 5-legs-in-a-day would look like.

Day 1... LAX - OGG
Day 2... OGG-HNL-OGG-HNL-LIH-HNL
Day 3... HNL-KOA-LAX

^ Actual trip. No redeye.

5 legs a day are very, very rare. Even 4 legs aren't as common outside of interisland Hawaii, though there are some and they're either pure intra-Texas or intra-California flights. I just did a 4-leg day not too long ago and it went something like CRP-HOU-DAL-HOU-CRP. If you see them, they're short legs with quick turn times and relatively short duty day believe it or not.