b190av8r

Finny, I sent you a PM.

hoover

I do AM Reserve and commute in the night before on the very last flight. It makes for a short first night when I get called at 0400 but worth it.
I can always commute home on my last day. So I commute on 4 of my days off at the end of the day.
I plan on moving to a base as soon as possible. The ability to sit reserve at home even only a couple days would be worth it. Plus the ability to make more $ is amazing.
Way better QOL and $$

e6bpilot

Our reserve system sucks for making money and QOL, even at home. There is a reason it always goes junior.
Take a look at a typical reserve pilots board after the month is done. It will make you cringe. You can make more money and work less days with a line.

Loon

RSV is what it is, just like commuting.
A good attitude goes a long way.
I came from the regionals, i know what "bad" is.
I flew 135 freight before that, i know what "really bad" is.
SWA rsv is not bad; commuting always sucks, but crew sked normally releases me early to go home to sdf.
Don't let "glass half-empty" folk deter any potential new-hires.

e6bpilot

You are doing your fellow pilots a disservice by comparing reserve here to a commuter or 135 freight outfit. Compare us to our peers at other major airlines. I could compare it to some of the crap I dealt with in the military, but why?
Let's see: No long call, stupid pay per month system, get ridden like seabiscuit for the entire month only to sit the last two days so that you don't go over guarantee, no move up premium, no deadhead release, no ability to self assign, no ability to drop days depending on coverage, no ability to trade days with company, scheduling regularly asks you to violate the contract, can't boost pay if you want to due to company imposed legality issues, the list goes on. It is a B scale that was negotiated by guys who either never sat reserve or only did it for a couple of months.
My glass is generally half full, but anyone who says our reserve system isn't that bad either doesn't bid it or doesn't have friends at other major airlines.
I was on weekend reserve for 18 months. Give that a try and let me know how full that glass looks.
The reserve part of our next contract has allegedly been TA'd already. I guarantee it will show major improvements as it should. I don't have to bid reserve anymore, but I don't want my junior brethren to get stuck doing the same thing I did when the music stops.

Loon

Fair enough, e6b.
All your points are taken, however one cannot lose sight that it is still RESERVE (i.e. a polished turd is still a turd).

Agree to disagree, i don't think our rsv rules are bad.
Coveted? Absolutely not. Tolerable for short term? Absolutely.

FLY6584

Dude our reserve rules are really really bad. The only thing that makes it tolerable for new guys like you and I is the fact that I only spent 5 months on reserve and you know you will only have to spend a similar amount of time before you are treated like a human again.

I'm not about to preach about a half full mentality to guys like E6B who spent 18 months on the B scale. My QOL now that I am in the middle of blank line territory has increased dramatically, but it is imperative we stay focused on improving our reserves for the guys who get hired after hiring slows down and are forced to spend more than a few months as a second class citizen.

As far as attracting new hires go they should see for themselves that the majority of our pilot group who hasn't been on reserves in years still cares about making it better for the new guys, as evident by the continued recognition in our contract talks.

full of luv

Here's the thing Loon, it doesn't take much tweaking and incentivizing to make reserve a choice by many, and if you do, you mostly get reserves of pilots who choose it rather than are forced into it.

In some categories at Delta, reserve goes senior to line holders for many months, like over the summer when the average line value is high, thereby guaranteeing up to 80 hours of pay without the expectation of being used for 80 hours.

And the ability to tailor your reserve days on schedule with company concurrence allowed with many of the things listed above make reserve desirable, especially for the non-commuters.

tacamoflyer

Sorry if I came off angry. Reserve here is a sore spot for me, mainly because I did it for so long and the complete lack of understanding about it from senior pilots.
Just last trip, my knowledges of our effed up system earned one captain I was flying with 6.5 TFP and a day off later in the month. Had I not been there, he would have ended up getting hosed by the scarlet R.
Then he leaves and flag tie takes over. I told him what just happened and he emphatically told me I was wrong about the pay. I bet him a beer and won. Not only did he not pay up because he was a one way m-fr, but I had to apologize for his hijacks for two more days as customers and flight attendants rolled their eyes at him.

FrankSavage

Steering towards more of a domicile type question, does the type of trips vary by base much?