Airline Pilot Only Question?

Question

If I am a pilot, and live in New York, can I stay living in New York and work for any airline in the country? Do you just wait for a flight into New York, then go to work? How do you get "home" when you are done flying for your few days? What exactly is your "base" and how do you get to it?

Thanks alot guys!

Answer 1

You asked- Can you stay living in NY and work for any airline in the country?

Airlines assign their pilots to a base.  They must be able to arrive at that base in a timely manner to begin their assigned flights.  If a pilot has seniority, he might be more likely to successfully commute from another city to New York, but commuting to a city like New York that has seasonal weather conditions that effect flight arrivals and departures could be risky.

Many pilots that do commute to their base from distant cities often depart a day ahead, and stay over in nearby hotels to be sure of their arrival and ability to get their needed sleep/rest.

Here's a scenario-  You have (are working) a domestic flight that would depart Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas or Los Angeles (you pick) at 6am...you'd have to check in at least one-two hours prior to departure (at 5am)...so the odds of flying/commuting by plane out of NY and arriving just in time for that 5am check-in would mean you probably didn't get to bed or get any sleep.  

Ideal situation is that you eventually are based in the city in which you want to live...and you don't have more than a 1 hour drive to the airport.

Getting "home" if you are a commuter is usually done on the first available flight you can get...sometimes on your airline of employment and sometimes on another carrier.  

Commuting costs can get expensive.  

Also, you might be finished flying for "your few days" as you said, but it's possible that you will be scheduled to go right back out the next night (or within legal allowance) or the next day...and that would make commuting back and forth extremely difficult.

_________________

In response to "First Officer" who answered your question below in this thread (but has since deleted it),  yes flying on the jump-seat is free providing the airline you are employed by has an agreement (and most do) with the airline you want to fly on the jump seat with...AND providing that jump-seat is available.  It has happened that the jump-seat was taken by one of their own pilots who was commuting (this is rare, but I mention it because it HAS happened and when you're exhausted it's the last thing you need).

When I referred to commuting potentially getting expensive, one has to factor in ALL the things involved with commuting to or from NY.  It wasn't clear if this person lives in upstate NY and would be trying to commute from say Albany, or if they live in Westchester County and would commute via LGA or JFK.

Your employer is only going to pay your hotel for nights you are on layover, not nights related to your choice to commute, so hotel costs (although you often can get a competitive rate), meals, additional days parking, and possible costs for being away from home longer than you'd be if you could just drive an hour from home the day of your trip become part of the mix.  For example, maybe you need to have someone walk your dog, or handle additional commuting time for childcare if you are a single parent with custody.  Some people have other responsibilities that might have to be considered before deciding if commuting can work for them.

Again, it may work for you to commute to ATL working for Air Tran, but if you are flying flights with very late arrivals into your home base, there's often NO flight going out that you can catch to take you back to your home city.  

If you are flying domestic flights with first departures at 5am, and have to check in 1-2 hours ahead...that can add a significant amount of time to your day...(often that required check-in time is MORE than the actual flight time)...and getting to your work base with enough time for a first of the morning departure can make commuting tough.

Heck, there's people who DRIVE more than 2 or 3 hours to get to their base, and given weather and traffic...that can oftentimes be longer than flying a short hop to your base from a nearby city.

Commuting to a base in another city works in many cases, but it does take a toll on you if you plan on having a long career or want to fly longer legs domestically with time zone changes (ATL- LAX,  MCO- SFO or Hawaii flying) or plan on doing any international flying.  That's just my opinion.

Answer 2

That pretty much does it.  Communting sucks, but consider where you are living and where you might have to live.  Seniority, metropolitan area with lots of inbound flights help the decision, also any jumpseat agreements your airline has with others.

Answer 3

yes, you can stay in New York ,and work for any American airlines.

your flight will be from new york to any other states or countary

if the flight is short (2-4 hours) you will return at the same day

if the flight is long you may stay one  or two nights  outside then return