Deafguppy

You can always aggressive pickup (APU) trip if it meets the requirements to match its length with your availability. But it goes in seniority order, and there aren't always trips available.

Scheds can assign you as many short calls/field standbys as they want. After 2 unused they start paying you an hour extra each time if you don't get assigned a trip from it.

Dave Fitzgerald

Lots of questions and answers here.
1. No limits on short calls. There are some restrictions on if you get extra pay for short calls you pick up, but it sounds like you are commuting to reserve. No limits, you can get short calls every day. Makes long call kind of moot.
2. A coupe of reasons for aggressive pickups. First is you can make extra pay above reserve guarantee. Second and probably more important to you, you can control your commute. It the start time is not in the morning, you can commute in the day of. More time at home. In the beginning, you will think, I'll just do what the company says, but it will get old real fast, and you will be working for more time at home. Aggressive pickup helps a lot.
3. Depending on fleet, seat, domicile, length of commute, you may or may not need a crash pad. It's nice to have if it's civilized.
4. With aggressive pickup, and long calls being converted to never ending short calls, you can most likely get another 2-5 days at home a month. Keep in mind, you are competing with all the other reserve commuters for these short calls. At the moment, the crew desk seems to be reducing the number of stupidly built and nonsensically assigned short calls, so they may be in short supply if you want to pick some up. If you are in the crash pad anyway, why not?
5. If it's guppy reserve in EWR, most likely you won't be on reserve long. It moves pretty fast.

Welcome and good luck on reserve. I'd recommend calling your ALPA mentor for a pretty good gouge on the reserve stuff.

sherpster

Good stuff. I'll have to figure out if I can pull long call from home. Lots of available flights to NYC from cmh but wouldn't want to chance missing a call out.

Anybody using a clarity aloft pro headset in the 737?

RSRVWINDSURFR

I'm not on the narrow body fleet, but I still imagine you'll be home much more than 12 days a month. Also, living within 4 hours of your base, you will have much more peace of mind knowing you could drive in if your commute plans fall apart as they sometimes do. Also, if you lived within driving distance, you could always sit LC at home, knowing it didn't matter what time of day Scheds called. Obviously, you wouldn't want to drive regularly, but it's a great backup. Congrats and welcome!

sherpster

Well the 4 hour thing is to ord and if we moved back to Toledo. Driving to Newark ain't an option. I do live 15 minutes from cmh and on any given day there are 20 direct flights to NYC airports. I think I can swing long call at home, I'll see when I get online.

Thanks again guys.no more questions from me for awhile.

NK Bumble Bee

Spirit guy in CMH based in ORD here. You may want to double check you drive time for planning purposes. Unless you're a maniac on the roads it's 5:30 from northwest cbus to ord parking lot.