Date: 201501
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: IMC
Weather elements / visibility: Icing; Turbulence
Light: Night
Aircraft: No Aircraft
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: First Officer
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Fatigue
Anomaly: No Specific Anomaly Occurred All Types
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: Pre-flight
Result: General Work Refused
Contributing factors: Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: Nothing seemed to go my way. My sleep on the night before could best be described as decent; not great; but okay. Late in the morning of this day I began packing for my three day trip that began the following morning. I live in ZZZ and have been commuting to Chicago for just over a month; having recently changed domiciles. I had briefly looked at the weather in Chicago; it wasn't awful; it was marginal at best with some strong crosswinds. I figured things would be delayed; and based on the delays I saw earlier in the morning; it didn't look like much. Although; due to the weather forecast I thought it would be a good idea to give myself multiple flight options (4-5) just in case there were any issues. I showed up for the first flight that departed around XA35pm. It was delayed an hour. When I finally spoke with the gate agent she said the jumpsuits were full and I was #11 on the stand by list; it didn't happen. Just a short while earlier; the flight had many open seats and very few stand by passengers listed. After they began rerouting passengers and canceling flights; this flight began to fill quickly. Option for flight #2 was an Air Carrier Y flight; that I had been listed for; left around XB30. I ran to that flight just to learn it had been canceled. I ran back to the other terminal to try to catch the next Air Carrier Z flight. This would be the third flight I tried; since I had missed the first two. I would ultimately get on. Boarding began at XB:15pm; however scheduled departure time was now showing XD:15. We boarded - then deplaned - then re-boarded again. After it was all said and done we finally pushed off of the gate around at XE34pm and after an uneventful flight we touched down at ORD around XGpm. After exiting the runway we headed toward the 'penalty box' due to ALL gates being unavailable at ORD. We sat there for well over two hours waiting for our gate. When we finally pulled up to the gate; my watch read XJ05 am. Needless to say; ORD was an absolute mess. I headed for the bus shuttle center to catch the hotel van. Two of the vans came by; dropped off; picked up and left. But there were so many other people waiting in a huge line for the [hotel]. I called the hotel and was informed it could be well over 45 minutes or an hour before we would be pick up. At this point I was fighting a loosing battle with fatigue. At XJ40; I realized that I would only have a few hours at most for a sleep opportunity; followed by almost 8 hours of flying later that day. I knew then that I was fatigued and was not fit to fly for a XO25 show time. In the interest of safety; I decided that I must take action to remove myself from the sequence. I called scheduling and was removed from my trip. I waited about 30 minutes before deciding to just pay for a cab to the hotel. After a mix up at the front desk and after waiting in another line there for 30 more minutes; I walked into my room and the clock read XK44.I am writing this report to bring light to some of these types of issues that can arise while commuting and the fatigue that is associated with commuting. I must admit I was briefly hesitant to call off fatigued right away because I was afraid of loosing the pay credit for my 3 day trip (18 hours worth). Ultimately; I determined the most correct and responsible thing to do was to remove myself from the trip as it simply was no longer safe for me to be reporting to fly that morning per Vol 1.




Synopsis: Air carrier First Officer reported he chose to call in fatigued because he was unable to obtain proper rest prior to his flight assignment.