Gilligan13

The reason for the question was someone on another thread said you could drop your whole schedule if reserves are staffed. It could be easier for a commuter to drop reserve days and pick up a trip if it was possible.

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Gilligan13

So depending on the fleet it's not difficult to pick up trips on your off days?

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cliffnd

The key like you said is: if reserves are staffed. You cannot guarantee this will be the case during your assigned reserve days. In other words, you may achieve success in dropping all your reserve days except the one you really want/need off. Banking on dropping reserve days/trips is a roll of the dice. With that said, when you take into account the amount of hiring going on, good bidding strategies, and dropping, it's getting easier to work your schedule and do what you want to do.


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Adlerdriver

Minor point - but do you think anyone cares about this?
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Just sayin'

Yes. You can drop your whole reserve schedule. It's all based on manning, open time and reserves. Some fleets are better than others in allowing R-day manipulation. Sometimes it takes many, many requests to get it done. Other times you have to whittle the days away a few at a time with multiple drops.

It's obviously a gamble. But if you're not sweating the pay and want to roll the bones, you can get lucky. There's sometimes a catch 22. If there are enough trip in OT so you feel comfy dropping all your R-days, you can't drop because they need the reserves. So you have to drop with nothing available and spend your life hawking OT to find some trips. But, it can work if you're persistent.

Gilligan13

That's the wild card. Will there be trips to pick up.

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cliffnd

I would say it's relatively easy. The challenges are, (1) do you have time in you makeup bank (if you don't, the contract allows for an extra 6-12 hours of work each month) to pick up the trip, (2) does it conflict with anything else on your schedule, and (3) beating others to it (assigned first come first served as long as 1 & 2 don't get in the way).


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MaydayMark

My opinion (based on my experience) ... I know for a fact (I read it in the contract) that you are "allowed" to drop "R" days and try to gamble on picking up trips from open time.

When I was a junior MD-11 Captain I spent approximately 4 years on Reserve. I could quickly hold RB and would much rather stand daytime reserve than have a cr*ppy night hub-turn line. I was much more interested in improving my schedule than maximizing my pay. I'd wager that I put in a schedule adjustment request (drop or move R days, pick up open time, trip trade) at least once a week for the entire 4 years. I honestly can't recall any of them being approved!*? DENIED INSUFFICIENT RESERVES, I had the daytime reserve period and was glad to sit at the crashpad for much of the month.

My advice ... if you bid Reserve, I'd plan on having to be available as the line was published. The contract says we have all of these schedule improvement tools ... good luck with that.


MM

Adlerdriver

MM,
I have personal experience in this as well, though it's somewhat dated. As I said, I think this is very fleet and seat dependent. I did not experience what you did. I spent 2 solid years on reserve on the MD-11 (F/O) in MEM (2007-2009). I consistently dropped large blocks of R-days in exchange for known trips. Typically, I'd call skeds and ask if the trip in question already had trades or makeup requests for it. If not, I'd submit my drop and have the scheduler process it with me on the phone. Once approved, I'd input the makeup request and get him to process that too.

Other times, I was just moving or dropping R-days with no trips involved. More often than not I was successful. When I got excessed to ANC, I got a 19 day in a row R-line. I was able to drop half the R-days on the first request. The other half needed about a dozen requests to whittle them down to two days. The last two days took another week of daily requests but I cleared the board. Got a nice DH single departure out of open time a few days later. So, everyone's situation seem to vary quite a bit. Obviously this was also 7-8 years ago.

With us hiring into all seats and manning probably not as robust, who knows what will happen now. But, planning on worst case is certainly worth considering.

Gilligan13

How long is it taking to hold a line on the MD or 777?

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FlyBoyd

No, First Fly is by seniority.


"Reserves who elected the “first fly” option as provided in Section 25 .M .4 . shall be assigned in seniority order, prior to pilots who have not elected that option, ..."