Looking at this as "reserve time" is false advertising. Every airline has senior bases. First the most Jr. line holder for August in DTW is an October 2007 hire, so 10 years not 17. Second the most Jr. Captain line holder in the company is a July 15 hire... That's two years.

If you choose to remain on the 900 in the most senior bases then you may sit on reserve for years. This is a choice.

I live in the Detroit area, I have a family, I want time off, I'd prefer not to commute. I do commute to a captain line. I have been here less than 4 years, I have been holding a captain line nearly a year. In the winter I regularly get 15 or 16 days off, in the summer I get 12-14. I get commutability on all but 2 ends of trips most months, and if I need to commute in I leave late, or get home by a little after 7am. The motels because I book in advance run 2-3 hundred a month. My monthly credit runs 85-95 a month so I can afford those motels vs. sitting reverse and getting min credit. In the past year I have never missed a trip because of commuting and only been given positive space once, in this case the board did not count it as a call in honest because I had done my due diligence to get to work on time and they put me on my first flight choice. (second flight had canceled.)

So all these excuses "impossible to commute from DTW," "Not enough time off," "hotels and crash pads are unaffordable." Are all excuses, commuting to a line in a year I get more hard time off, more income, more time with my family, and get to work every time.

At any airline you can choose to sit reserve for years on the Sr. aircraft in a Sr. base. It is your choice, but it is a choice, if you choose this you can't complain about it and say that reserve is 17 years, that is false advertising. Right now reserve for a captain is 2 years 1 month at EDV. I'm not saying that choosing a reserve line in a Sr. domicile is a poor choice, but you have to weight your options and if sitting reserve is so bad, make a new one.

The point I want to make is anyone considering EDV should know at the moment you can be PIC quickly and get control of your schedule very quickly here. Once you do quality of life is good for a regional, from what I can tell better than most.