Reactivity

Once upon a time, in the beginning, Amazon was a strictly daytime operation and there were all-Amazon lines in the bid pack. Those did tend to go senior. Now that Amazon is a day/night operation, it doesn't really matter much. You're probably going to be flying in the dark at some point during the trip. I haven't looked closely enough at the pairings to see if any one is better than another.

The westbound flights - particularly the west coast flights - are the last to leave. The return trips are also the last to arrive in CVG.

You walk into Building 6, find a place to be until your next show time, maybe eat, maybe sleep a little, then head out.

iflyjets2013

Hello all, I have an interview scheduled. I currently fly for a regional and was wondering if flying for ABX is right move. (I'm aware its 70% night flying)

I'd be commuting either way.

How many hours a month could I expect to fly in reserve and how long untill I can hold a line?

astray

Stay and upgrade if a legacy is your goal.

El Pilot

Thanks. How dose reserve work for a new FO? What kind of days on days can one expect being new? Ideally would want to block my days on to have more
days off in a row as a commuter.

wornTiller

2 hour callout for R2/R3, on-premise reserve (ASAP) for R1. on R2 or R3, each day you are on call 16 hours and then have 8 hours off. While on call, you could get assigned a trip or R1 (airport standby).

There is a "fly/no-fly" list. If you volunteer for the "fly" list, you will be called in seniority order for assignments. On the "no-fly" list, you will be called in inverse seniority order for assignments. In plain English, that means, while junior, you will be called last when you want to fly, and called first when you don't wish to fly.

You will work 16 or 17 days ON, 14 days OFF.

With line bidding, look through the bid pack to find a line that gives you 14 days off in a row. Then you are only commuting to/from work only once a bid period.

If you are awarded the last 14 days off in 1 month and the first 14 days off in the next, you could have 28 days off in a row. Of course you have to rob Peter to pay Paul in that case; working 32-34 days in a row. But you could live in far away lands such as España, Australia, or India and make the job work for you.

abxflyr

I am not a first officer (so I am not as up on that side of scheduling) but my last quick glance at the FO lines/awards indicated numerous reserve lines that went unawarded (open) as well as several composite reserve lines. Depending on seniority, alignment of the stars, etc., one may end up with a solid block of time on (i.e. 16 in a row) or a 2 (and a few 3) reserve block of days. Through trade requests (both with crew scheds and other pilots) one can manipulate their sched to better fit needs, no guarantees of course. Composite reserve lines are still "reserve" but with trips built into them. The trips, days on/off, etc. are proffered on a secondary bid amongst the composite line holders to determine award....pro and con with bidding these types of lines.

The remainder of the infor is accurate in that one typically has 14 off/month, and your milage will vary in commuting to the individual.

Diegouptheirons

I have heard a strange thing about trading flights/picking up someone elses: the pilot that get the extra flight doesn't get credit for it and basically he's flying for free, and the pilot not flying he's still the one that gets compensated for it? Can someone articulate better this rumor?

Reactivity

When we were long on FOs and short on flying, FOs desperate to fly were offering to trade days off to pick up trips. The FO trading out of the trip would not be interested in being short several hours for the month and the company wasn't going to pay anyone to pick up a trip that was already covered, so the deal was that one FO would cover another FO's trip - it wasn't really a normal trip trade. It's essentially just a big split trade. There are still FOs offering up trips for days off, but not as many, and I doubt there are any takers now.

nitefr8dog

Still happens when someone sitting reserve in domicile wants to fly/build time or just get perdiem, and a local pilot who does not care about perdiem or building hours and would rather stay home. No more or less pay for anyone. As long as the flight is covered, the company is happy. People give up trips all the time. Especially the local guys.

El Pilot

Thanks for the reply. Is per deim earned while on R2/R3 reserve or only while on a trip?

Also I was curious how the layovers are as far as food options go? I'm big on meal prep and eating healthy do crews eat out all the time or do the schuedlues allow for brining/cooking your own food?

thanks.