172 Driver
I have every sympathy for your situation and the need/desire to be at home with family, this industry is littered with broken families that simply can't cope with the challenges of working away.
In my company for me to be on an aircraft legally i need to be either part of the operating crew i.e. on the roster and its duty including the pay to go with it or its an ID ticket of which we have 3 types
1. S1 this is a firm ID ticket issued by the company for the purpose of positioning from one place to another and passenger security will normally be used, a must at LGW
2. S2 this is a sub load ticket for the crew member to self position on the net work for commuting, not on duty and done by text to an automated system with a response and booking reference texted back in around 8 sec, again pax channel should be used and any jump seat maybe used except cockpit in UK airspace
3 ID leisure ticket issued by online booking system with a small cost around €15 - €20 again sub load, crew seat as per S2 above
In all cases we can pre board whether in uniform or not subject to agreement with cabin manager, but normal protocol is to disembark last after fare paying passengers
172 from what you and others have described (and i've observed) some are clearly pushing it and i think you'll find that the principle of being airside applies only on duty or with a valid ticket, further in some cases immigration rules are being violated when transiting to/from non Schengen countries, as was stated by Avenger pilots risk confiscation of airside ID's and in some airlines no flying means no pay
No one want to make this job/life balance anymore difficult than it is but i feel that if pilots are a party to 'don't ask, don't tell' it will bite them on the arse sooner or later in much the way that 'creative' tax arrangements have done for people who thought that paying some tax and social payment in Ireland
would be ok with the local tax office in another country, you/we are been used to cut some airlines costs in areas like positioning, but we take all the risk