United commuting: living in Denver and flying from Newark, the crash pad economics, the commuter clause, and the day it went wrong
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#1 LAX now, but for three years I commuted from Denver to a Newark line, and the commuting life at a US carrier is a whole thing that European crew do not have a version of. Here is how it works, what it costs, and the day it stopped working.
Why commute
Because the base you can hold a line at is not the city you want to live in, or because your partner's job is somewhere else, or because the rent at the base is impossible. A large proportion of US crew commute: they live in one city and fly, as passengers, to their base for their trips. Denver to Newark for a three day trip is a four hour flight each way, unpaid, on standby.
The mechanics
You list for a flight to your base the day before or the morning of your trip, on staff travel, standby. You need to be at the base for sign on. If the flights are full, you do not get on. So you list for two or three options, you leave a day early if the loads look bad, and you keep a crash pad at the base for the night before.
The crash pad
A shared apartment near the base with bunk beds, rented by a group of commuters, used only the night before an early or after a late. Mine was in Elizabeth, near Newark, six beds, a monthly share that was a fraction of a rent. Commuters are a tribe and the crash pad is the tribe's base camp, as Nina wrote. Grim and loved.
The commuter clause
The contract has a provision: if you listed for a reasonable number of flights and could not get on, you are not penalised for missing the trip, within limits. It is the safety net and it has rules (how many flights, how early you listed) and it is used, and abused, and checked.
The economics
The crash pad share plus the flights (free but unreliable) plus the day early on bad load days plus the exhaustion of a four hour commute before a twelve hour duty. It worked for three years because the Denver life was worth it. It stopped being worth it when the loads got bad.
The day it went wrong
A snow day in Denver, every flight to Newark full or cancelled, three listings, no seat, a trip missed, the commuter clause invoked, a conversation with the base about whether my listings had been reasonable. They had. It was fine. It was also the day I decided to transfer to LAX and live where I flew from.
For new hires
Commuting is a real option and a lot of crew do it for a whole career. It costs a crash pad, a day of your life per trip, and a permanent low level anxiety about loads. If you can live at your base, live at your base. If you cannot, learn the loads, keep a crash pad, and know the clause.
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#2 JFK, and half my base commutes, from Florida mostly, and the crash pad in Queens is the tribe's base camp exactly as described. The snow day is the day every commuter has had. The clause is the thing every commuter knows by heart.
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#3 Newark, and I have flown with Kevin when he was commuting and he was tired in a way the local crew were not, and he flew well anyway, and I remember thinking the commute was a second job. It is.
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#4 Atlanta, and the commuting culture at Atlanta is huge because the flights to everywhere are constant and the loads are usually fine. A base with a lot of flights is a base you can commute to. Newark in a snowstorm is not.
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#5 @cassieatl exactly the difference. The commute is only as good as the loads to the base. Atlanta's are good. Newark's in February are not.
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#6 Geneva, and the European version of this is the cross border thing I wrote about, and it is a tram, not a four hour flight, and reading the American version makes me grateful for the tram.
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#7 Denver, reserve, and I live here and commute nowhere and I have friends who commute to Denver from Salt Lake and I now understand their faces on the crew bus. Live at the base. If you can.
