For those of you posting about your reserve schedules, can you mention your base and aircraft? I ask because reserve varies so much depending on what aircraft you're on and where you're based. Last fall I had 2, maybe 3 days of long call total while on reserve for the 320 in JFK. A friend of mine 2 months senior to me in BOS on the 190 routinely had that many days of long call each week. Throw in last day releases and he spent more time at home than at a crashpad. Heck, 190 guys I hear were being sent back to MCO to keep current in the sim sometimes.
Our reserve system works great if you're staffed well in your base, on your aircraft, and in your seat. If not, you'll be enjoying plenty of short call.
The reserve system needs to be fixed. The ability to bid PM and AM shifts is a good start, but we need to do better than that. No one should have to sit 18 days of short call a month unless you want to. So keep some short call pilots, but any flying above minimum daily credit should be extra on top of the monthly minimum. Add the ability to bid for a purely long call reserve schedule, with our 14 hour call out and you'll be able to live many more places than our bases while enjoying the ability to sit reserve at home. Not all of us want to or are able to afford the cost of living within the 2 hour call radius.
Upgrade times would probably increase, but if reserve were better, more senior pilots would hopefully bid it, meaning better trips for line holders and more reliable reserve coverage so we can drop and swap trips more reliably.
I know we all want Delta rates plus a dollar. I'm more concerned with scope and work rules. There are many other areas that need improvement as well, I just hope we don't fixate on pay rates and earning a quick buck, while neglecting our QOL.