Regarding commuting, whilst I understand it could be a bit of a ball ache (particularly early on), are there certain cities it'd be more difficult to commute from? Perhaps due to there already being a ton of crew commuting from that location, so making it less likely for more junior pilots to get a jumpseat if necessary?
4468, I think you're right about the 6 months prior to staff travel kicking in.
PS. I'm referring to short haul Airbus, either LHR or LGW.