Hedley

They did just change the training footprint for new captains. My understanding is that the short course is no more and all new captains have to go through the long course, even if just jumping the trash can. That’s probably a good thing considering our new hire experience level is much lower than historic levels and they can upgrade in a year.

Imapylot

So global reserve means they can do whatever they want with you on whichever days they choose with anywhere from a zero to 13 hour call out? If I’m even remotely understanding that then you folks seriously need a new contract with crap like that taken out.
Edit: thank you for the answer to my question

qltep

No…

They cannot start a trip on your day off. The trip has to start in your day on and go into your day off. Once that trip ends you are off and you get your days off restored. They can’t call you on your day off and force you to work. From my understanding, they only disrupt days off if there are 0 other people available for the trip.

Short call is a 2.5 hour call out. 14 hours a day. But you are still subject to FAR 117 rules. They can’t really call you at hour 12 and make you fly a trip. Not enough time. Any assigned unused short calls over 2 of them give you 1 hour of add pay. I was recently given 29 hours off during a reserve period. They released me from long call and put my on short call 3pm the next day. Once released you are free from duty till you start short call.

For example, a 7pm short call in SFO has maybe 4-8 flights they can do.

Field standby is 4 hours. After that you are immediately on long call. Right now, it seems to be rare. If on FSB a trip has to start within 5 hours of starting your FSB. So if you have FSB from 12-4 they could call you at 3 for a 4:30 trip. But if you make it to 4 then you are off.

If on long call you get released at 10am on your last day. 3pm if you next day is your one Flex day off.

If you live in base it’s great. If not then it sucks, but so does normal reserve. I know people on the 737 commuting to reserve and they haven’t flown for a month.

Imapylot

I was trying to be sarcastic but also slightly serious so sorry if I offended you. I realize it’s not as simple or as awful as I implied. However, it does seem a little confusing and also seems like the company has way more leeway than they should. It’s significantly more straightforward (although with minor exceptions) at my current company. We basically have 3 options; long call, short call, and ready reserve. Long call is 1800 central time 2 days prior to the start date of the trip. Short call is 2 hours. Ready reserve is airport standby, get to the plane as soon as possible. Under rare and limited circumstances they can convert long call to short call but they can’t convert anything to ready reserve. You bid for one of the 3 options for the entire month and that’s your life that month. No need to wonder or guess which of the three you’ll be doing from day to day or week to week. The only reason I bring this up is because there’s talk about the pros and cons negotiating publicly towards your next contract. I don’t work for United so I can’t say what United pilots do or don’t want but I can say that an airline can operate without global reserve. Is eliminating or majorly overhauling global reserve something worth fighting for? That’s for you and your union reps to discuss. I understand my input is completely unsolicited but it’s possible that United might be my next airline so whatever you all are able to gain from a new contract could also potentially benefit me in the future.

ugleeual

I’ve been on global reserve as a Captain for over 2 years… with another 2 years in the right seat of the 777 many many moons ago. Global reserve isn’t as horrible as many on here try to portray. Can it be better? Of course... always can have improvements. Do they roll every day off? No… an average month I have maybe one or two days max moved. Should pilots be compensated for rolling days off? Most definitely. Based on all my conversations with other captains and FOs the linchpin to what makes global reserve horrible is being a commuter. If you live within 2.5 hours of your base then life is pretty good… if you have to fly in then it sucks real bad.

Swindler128

but even still right. there is no trip trading or dropping. your working your full schedule every month pretty much regardless.

ugleeual

yes… 18 days on reserve and 12 days off… 6 of which can’t be moved. On average I work way less on global reserve than working a line… have to be on SC 5-6 times out of the month but able to golf these days carrying my phone since I live local.

dailyops

You think it's "not that bad" because you haven't worked under any other airlines reserve rules, or at least not for "many moons". Having 2 days off moved per month is the exact opposite of normal for any other airline, even the regionals. People are not trying to portray reserve on here as anything besides what it is. We have the worst reserve rules of any major airline and most regionals. 6 moveable days off (global), unlimited short calls with early release that makes you both a short call and long call reserve every day, FSB, no ability to trade reserve days with other pilots, no ability to pickup OT on days off, targeting of reserves with the silo system, heavily manipulated pool coverage that makes it impossible to move reserve days, etc etc etc. Maybe you should ask pilots at other airlines why reserve goes senior, even to commuters.

Arvik

Related to that, once one is able to hold a line, are out-of-base pickups a thing, or are you stuck with whatever is available in your particular base?

ugleeual

yes… after 1pm local base time you can call crew desk and pickup a trip at another base. Their are some restrictions like Guam and flying to Asia I heard… but never tried.