I’ve been commuting to reserve for a little over a month. The cons outweigh the pros, but it’s not as bad as I feared it would be. (That said, we haven’t the holiday loads or winter weather yet). Costs are higher than I expected. Commuter hotels, drinks/meals for the crew from time to time. Uber.
Time at home is significantly less than before. Part of that is my preference for AMs when commuting. I leave the house around 14:30 on my last day off to catch a 16:30 flight so that I get into base in time for about 8 hours of sleep before my RAP begins. So 2.5 days off at home per week is about all I really can hope for. Less on the overlap due to lack of bidding power. (You know it’s rough when you are considering scheduling that colonoscopy you’ve been putting off, just to get a little extra time off.) 🤣
Reserve is busy. Haven’t had to call in fatigued yet, but there have been some exhausting days. These definitely aren’t the kinds of trips/lines I was bidding six months ago. If it weren’t for the fact that they send you back to the school house to downgrade, I’d probably bid back for another year until I could hold it in base. After a month at the training center I don’t want to go back anytime soon.
That said, all the reasons why I wanted to upgrade still exist. Still concerned about age 67 after the new congress. Still concerned about being in the left seat in the event of a merger or recession resulting in stagnation. Still want to be paid Captain rates for sick leave, STD, LTD if it were to become necessary. And I wasn’t a varsity player with premium etc. Pretty much just flew my line, maybe added a day or two here and there. So the pay raise is noticeable.
Feel free to DM me if you have specific questions about what things have been like to help you make your decision.