Originally Posted by pdub20s:1342283
Anybody can spread some light on reserve life on the S5 cert. at Republic? I'm sure it isn't the greatest QOL, but I would like to get some insight on their scheduling practices etc etc
thanks!
90 min. Callout for a 45 min show time before departure.
No practical way of knowing who else is on reserve the same day as you, so hard to keep track if they are assigning flying in inverse seniority. Most of the time they assign whatever they feel is best for the company.
Greater of 4 hours credit or block when called out for a trip.
Reserve period is from 3am to 3pm. You cannot bid anything else. When they need coverage they will change your reserve to 10am to 10pm. They can't do this within 24 hours of your reserve period starting.
On last day of reserve before a day off you may ask to be released 4 hours early. Depending on the scheduler and how they feel, you may be released or you may not.
With that said, my experience as a reserve has been mostly positive. I'm a commuter so I'm interested in flying and getting overnights to not sit in a crash pad.
Unlike my previous airline, this place doesn't staff properly so as a reserve I end up flying almost every single day on reserve. Without even asking for flying. I broke guarantee 4 out of the last 5 months without even trying to. That said, you should budget on guarantee, just in case.
Additionally, because they don't staff properly, I found that I always knew at least a day in advance of what and where I was flying. I only had to do the 90 minute call out on average once a month.
As far as the last day, I was refused early release as I was the only reserve available in base more often than I was released early. However, due to the 3am to 3pm reserve, I was still able to get home that night. Sometimes you get assigned a trip on your last day that gets back to base late, so you get stuck one more night and commute on your day off. Fun.
Finally, this place only seems to keep between 3 to 15 reserves in base a month. For example in November 2012 out of 75 FO in LGA, there were 4 reserves. December 2012 there were 5 reserves. January 2013 there were 7 reserves. February 2013 we have a whopping 12 reserves! With the movement expected from the recent announcement, you won't sit reserve at S5 for more than a few months as senior FOs upgrade. It varies by base, ATL is most senior (small base). CMH has the most junior lineholders followed by LGA and IND. ORD the junior lineholder is a 2011 hire.