As a short haul LCC commuter I'll give you my tuppence worth. First if I were you I would stay where you are. I can't comment on how things work for BA but I work the similar non fixed pattern as BA.
When you finish late you have to go back to your accommodation for a 3/4 hours sleep then get the first flight out in the morning. By the time you commute home, faff about getting home from the airport you're nearly at lunch time. You also have to try being civil to your loved ones when you're shattered having had next to no sleep and been up since 0500 to get that first flight Northbound. Red bull will your new best mate.
If you've just got 2 days off then it's likely 24 hours at home, 48 if you have three days off. You'll spend your life looking up flights, living out of a case. Then what if there's no seats on the plane? I live a 5 hour car or train ride back to base and that'll likely be worse for you being north or the border. Sometimes when I have two days off finishing on a late and starting back on an early, I just stay down in base as its not worth the trip back as there's no time to account for rest and recovering from the previous work week and preparing for the coming week.
Family events will become a thing if the past, your social life will tumble, you'll go long periods without seeing friends and even your family. If you've got relatives who aren't in the best of health either then it's really no fun being miles away from them.
It's all well and good flying a shiny jet and the wage that goes with it, but you can't put a price of being at home with your loved ones and friends and that alone is worth sticking at the TP gig for. I know I would.
Either that or you both move. Commuting without a fixed pattern for a short haul airline is not sustainable long term.
Last edited by fa2fi; 24th Apr 2015 at 22:12.