Originally Posted by
hockeypilot44
I'm not a fan of separate categories for reserve and line holders. I did that pre-merger. I had the unfortunate experience of being a line holder without a line for three months in a row. I had some options. The first month I chose the permanent long call thing. I've never flown so much in one month in my life. The next two months I did straight reserve. It was frustrating to expect to be a line holder, then not get a schedule. Come to think of it, it was no better than what we have now. I don't understand why some people want it so bad. I'm pretty sure the only reason why we had it then was to keep the red book employees as line holders in the wide bodies while senior green book employees were stuck on reserve.
I think that the people who are for it are commuters. If you live in base, then the block/reserve separate groups suck if you are a bubble person. For example:
1. Commuter pilot block holder and didn't get a line: most chose to sit reserve at home. The company would have to positive space the pilot to the hub and assign the trip with enough time to provide the commute (they basically never sat short call because they couldn't make a last minute coverage).
2. Live in base pilot block holder without a line: no reason to sit reserve at home for 65 hours when you can just choose reserve for 75 hours. Again, as someone living in base, you would certainly fly much more than a commuter that was at home.
I don't like having the separate categories.