Originally Posted by Sweatsock

I think many of those that don't see an issue with a hard 2 hour call out number are still thinking of reserve in terms of regional carriers. Meaning that they see reserve as a fairly short duration thing twice in their careers, once as F/O and once as Captain.

At the majors it can, and most likely will be a significant portion of their 30 or so years at the airline. The reality of it is assuming they progress through the fleets and seats (f/o, Capt, narrowbody, widebody etc) reserve can frequently account for 50% of your time at the airline when all is said and done. Toss in another downturn, which is guaranteed to happen, that time spent on reserve can account for 80% of your time at a major.

Now for those that don't mind living right smack in the middle of a congested metropolitan area, spending 15 years on reserve with a "Must be in the aircraft seat in 2 hours" might not be too bad. For most of us that prefer to live somewhere farther away from the constant traffic noise and hellish traffic everytime you want to go to the quickymart, not so much.

When thinking about such things like call out times, go ahead and figure 15 years out of 30 as a reserve....maybe you will be one of the lucky ones and only see 5 years, but you also have an equal chance to be one of the unlucky ones and see 25 years as a reserve. We have guys retiring now with 30+ years and can count on one hand the number of years they held a block. Don't be gullible enough to think that it cannot happen to you, all you need to do is take a quick look at the history of every major out there right now to see how quick you can go from blockholding with weekends off to sitting reserve every weekend and holiday for years on end.

Another thing to remember. In the last 14 years my drive time to the airport has increased by about 20 minutes on average to the airport, from 30 minutes to 50 minutes, and I have not moved my residence. City growth has turned the small 2 lane country roads from the airport to my house into congested 4 lane start and stop obstacle courses. When I moved here 1 hour max was all that was needed in rush hour, now if I hit it on a bad day it can easily take 1:30 to the lot, then toss in another 15 mins waiting on the bus, plus the 10 minute bus ride, even if I go directly to the aircraft from the bus I will pop a hard 2 hour call out. And that was if I was sitting in full uniform at the house waiting for the phone to ring 14 hours a day.