ReserveDog

Strangely enough, Delta does not have moveable days off without pilot concurrence, and the company must pay you for the privilege. So your rather odd, management supporting comment is incorrect. Try thinking outside the box you're in, apparently the Delta pilot negotiating people did.

Tony Nelson

I'm a 756 FO headed back to TK for landings next week, so our experiences on reserve aren't that different.

C-17 Driver

DCA 76T FO here. I just got back from a 3 day. The trip broke my streak of 56 days on reserve at home except for a landings class in November. Living in base is an immeasurable difference in QOL. I used to commute cross country for reserve....never again.

Coach67

You said it. Everyone should plan on this bloody awful reserve system if the TA passes. One of the reasons I'm voting NO! The money isn't worth the leverage we are giving up AND keeping the current reserve system.

ugleeual

agree… thats why I switched to 777FO sitting reserve at my home domicile… no stress. It has the same pay as flying 90 hours a month on the 767… no brainer. I still don't understand why anyone would bid reserve and commute unless they had no other choice. I want some reserve improvements also but they are lower on the totem pole (IMO) then improving line holder QoL… which is what I hope to be in the near future. Guys/gals who bid WB FO or Capt NB reserve, then complain about reserve rules, always makes me scratch my head.

Northbound

I'm a global reserve. I have been so for 2 years. I have only had my days rolled once in that amount of time. It was during a snowstorm, busy time of year, and they were short on reserves. They had no other choice and I understood. I have never felt abused at all. That's not to say others have had it as easy. I've heard plenty of stories about guys getting rolled multiple times a month. Mainly during the busy summer months. That would indeed get tiresome. I'm not sure that's the case anymore as we seem to be caught up with the staffing shortage. Long story short, it's not perfect, but it's not that bad either. Reserve here is 100x better than the previous carriers I was with. Life is pretty darn good here. I hope guys don't forget where they've come from or what they do have. Overall, I've been extremely happy with how I've been treated on every level.

Now, I'm just trying to balance the negative. In no way am I saying we should not continue to try to improve our situation or QOL over time. We all deserve it. In regards to reserve, I would also like to see a limit to short calls in the future. No short calls on the first or last day? That would be nice. I have seen guys get a short call on their last day when they could have used somebody with 2 or 3 days remaining. That's not cool. That's one area that does seem to lack transparency. Right now I'm getting one short call assigned every reserve period. 3-4 times a month. Not excessive IMO. Am I willing to give up a raise to fight for it right this minute? Probably not. Once again, Its not perfect, but I don't think it's an epidemic of abuse.

Mitch Rapp05

Sure, if they insist on having rollable days then they need to pay the pilot 200% for disrupting their life.

Pro2nd

You are correct. I'm voting no in spirit.

Dragon7

That is interesting about Delta WB reserve. UAL Regular Reserve has rolled days off, they are called VDO and are payed at 150%. Might be worth pursuing. The whole gist of reserve improvement is about predictability and transparency of conversion to shortcall, FSB, and rolled days off. Yeah this impacts commuters the most, but that is not a valid reason to avoid addressing it. If there was a call to get more commutable lines i doubt we would say being a commuting line holder is a bad choice. As a new hire commuter who moved to base as soon as my kids were out of school, i can say reserve and commuting isn't always a choice. It is not the highest priority in a full contract negotiation but a limit on conversions and clear rules and time limits on publishing conversions and advertising SC/FSB needs to get done. This might be just and LOA/MOU, but it needs to be done. Reserve improvement was my highest priority in the TA, but you don't always get what you want 100%. Am actually leaning toward a yes vote on TA so i can see how the new MEC/NC functions, and reserve issues would be an area of interest, before i bet that much money on people i do not know.

MasterOfPuppets

Our current reserve rules are not that bad and actually quite livable. The problem is the crew desk and their managers. They bastardize the language and find every loophole they can. Every time I think they are screwing me I learn that they are actually in the right, this leads me to believe that you are actually theirs 24/7. The Reserve rules don't need to be fixed, the language needs to be fixed.

Examples:

1. If notified of a SC at 2359 you need 12hrs, if notified at 0000 you need 10 hrs. Scheduling has done this to me numerous times. They build a 10am SC and wait tell midnight to assign it.

2. Any SC built within 15 hours of call time is immediately assignable. they wait tell the evening then build several SC times and assign them immediately. There is no transparency. If I would have known they were going to build a 0200 SC I would have picked up the 1400 SC that was built before 10am. It also removes pilots that WANT to pick up a SC from the list.

3. You can only sit 1 RSV period a day. Thats great but the company keeps you on the hook until 2359 then releases you for the day 1 minute before midnight then assigns you a SC/FSB for the next day. If you are on a SC assignment you can not Aggressive pickup without the required rest, (hard to get when your 14hrs ends at 5am). Again you have no control over your life, you end up being the crew desks ***** because you can't break the SC cycle.

4. There is no consistency with SC and FSB assignments. How can a Wednesday with perfect weather need 12 SCs and 2 FSB, then a Saturday with garbage weather get 1 SC? If scheduling needs a reserve to start every hour then they should make that the standard everyday and staff the base accordingly. Reserves should be able to look at the FIFO list and see where exactly they fall based on the required pilots needed for the day. This allows RSV to either pickup a trip, pick a SC that suits their needs best and plan their commute.

5. This one I just learned about yesterday, if you are going from RSV to line holder they can roll your days into you line month, even for a basic trip. Reason being is because line holders do not have RDOs and HDOs. So the section of the contract that states that you can only have RDOs rolled for a global trip does not apply. WHAT?????? Talk about a load of ****.

6. Scheduling doesn't look ahead at tomorrow, this is nothing new, However, getting rolled into your days off because they put 13 people on SC yesterday and now they are all illegal is not right.

Anyways I'v decided I'm done commuting and I am moving to base. However, I would still like to have control over my life and will most likely be voting no on this TA based on the lack of RSV fixes.