Originally Posted by buscappy

amazing that so soon after pilots get the short-and-long call system, they forget how reserve works

if a pilot gets a trip most times he's on short call, then the company doesn't have enough pilots on short call status. take a course in operations or industrial mgt - you need enough extra cushion to be able to absorb shocks to the system (weather, rampant virus, whatever). so if they schedule reserves really well, then, yes, there will be pilots near the airport, ready to fly - but not actually needed. and this will happen a lot

for most of my career here, being in reserve meant being a couple hours from the parking lot. playing golf alone. watching a movie. working out. but near the parking lot.

then, alpa got us this treat of having some pilots on reserve being able to sit poolside in a gated community in Arizona and be on reserve for 747 trips to Asia and, now, lots of uninformed guys think it's a right of employment to hang out at the pool with the kids 1400 miles away from the gate where the company may - may - need them a few times a year when the solid waste hits the fans.

good grief

Originally Posted by baseball

Then, there's another way to look at it. Let's say you sit reserve and always get short called, and your life is very unpredictable, yet you notice several pilots sitting reserve flying either zero or less than 22 hours a month. Is there some sort of favoritism that can go on, or is the whole thing transparent? I see the same 3 to 5 pilots monthly in my BES doing nothing. Like it's a permanent annual vacation or something. I thought the first in and first out policy was a way to spread the "fairness" so to speak.

I sort of say "good grief" myself when I see this sort of thing. The reserve system is better. But not better enough if your BES has no career progression and is totally stagnant and the company has decided to just let "attrition" take care of the problem. ALPA typically doesn't spend much negotiating capital on reserve because ALPA feels it's a short term problem. usually guys are off of reserve in about 2 years depending on the fleet and the hiring-retirement cycle on that fleet.

Originally Posted by pilotgolfer

If you delve into the schedules of reserves with zero credit for the month, I'd bet a month of your pay that they are picking up all the short calls they can muster.

Originally Posted by APC225

Between some commuters wanting to fly, and others simply trying to break guarantee, someone can collect SCs and not fly. I flew with a guy who was regularly getting pay over 73 by not flying, just collecting a lot of SCs.

Originally Posted by baseball

Then, there's another way to look at it. Let's say you sit reserve and always get short called, and your life is very unpredictable, yet you notice several pilots sitting reserve flying either zero or less than 22 hours a month. Is there some sort of favoritism that can go on, or is the whole thing transparent? I see the same 3 to 5 pilots monthly in my BES doing nothing. Like it's a permanent annual vacation or something. I thought the first in and first out policy was a way to spread the "fairness" so to speak.

I sort of say "good grief" myself when I see this sort of thing. The reserve system is better. But not better enough if your BES has no career progression and is totally stagnant and the company has decided to just let "attrition" take care of the problem. ALPA typically doesn't spend much negotiating capital on reserve because ALPA feels it's a short term problem. usually guys are off of reserve in about 2 years depending on the fleet and the hiring-retirement cycle on that fleet.

Originally Posted by buscappy

yea, i hear ya. i remember, under the old all-reserve-is-short-call system, seeing the reserve list and noting some guys never flew and some were hitting 70 hrs. and it was the cycle you got on or pure chance but we thought they knew someone in scheduling. not sure about the gaming secrets in today's system but if there are tricks, some (not all) pilots are smart enough to figure out the game. i know i get pretty decent pbs results because more than half the guys senior to me can't figure out pbs !