Originally Posted by
Hilltopper89
When I was on reserve I never answered the phone even when on long or short call. I always listened to the message first.
Be wary about calling them when you're off. I thought about it a few times when I had picked up late report assignments day 1 then later saw a better assignment I wanted. I was afraid to call and ask for those better trips because I was worried they'd say, " no. You can't have that trip. But since I've got you on the phone here's an 0630 departure. Enjoy."
Multiple times I had scheduling call me 6ish pm last day off 10 minutes after an early report trip popped into open time and they wouldn't leave a message. I surmise that early report trips appeared and they were trolling down the list to get some dummy to answer.
You bet. Learned the hard way this past summer to punch the timer on my phone once i sent the Acars report at end of trip. They have 15 mins to call you. After that, not required to answer. "Trolling" is the exact right word in the fishing sense not the internet sense. Scheduling is just looking for somebody to answer the phone. i answered once by mistake. Dumb.