Some of us live so far away from our 'base' that sitting short call, or even reporting for a next day trip, is about impossible without a jumpseat already booked 7 days in advance. Never mind the hassles of flying the crappiest trips that get sicked out of the most.

If I lived in base, I would probably alternate reserve/regular months, and stack up all my regular line trips in the second half of the month, then bid my on call days in the first half of the next month, so they couldn't use me much, then put in a GS for the X days at the end of the month. I've seen many guys using this alternating mo. strategy getting lots of G/S's.

What we NEED is, up the pay for both Vacation Days and Training Days, to the same as the daily minimum, which I think should be increased from 5:15 to 6:00. That way, flying four 3 day trips would get you at least 72hrs./mo.