Originally Posted by
mrfishy
Could some more people chime in on some pay/time off questions?
My understanding is that on reserve you're pretty much only going to make the guaranteed min unless it happens to be super busy. Once you're able to hold a line, how hard is it to get as much credit as possible? Does it take a little bit of time to get enough seniority to be able to bid lots of credit? Are there specific bases where this would be easier/harder? Unlike the majority I don't really want to maximize my days off currently.
I understand you are guaranteed 12 days off per month. Can I volunteer to work during those days off?
During my interview they mentioned the paid holidays. What does that mean? Is everyone paid a set amount on those holidays even if you don't work?
My goal is to crank out as much credit as possible. What base would you recommend for me?
Your understanding is basically correct. Most months on reserve you won't break guarantee (if ever). Any flying you do on days off will go on top of your guarantee. With only 12 days off, though, it's generally pretty tough to add much onto your schedule and still be legal under FAR 117. You can't work more than 6 days in a row, and you must have 30 hours free from duty within a week long period (the way our software works, it's actually 32 hours to have a buffer in the case of overblocking).
Like I said, you're generally able to get what you want, even if it means doing things like trip trades and pick ups after bidding is complete. Our monthly lines average 78-85 hours, so any awarded line is likely to be above guarantee, sometimes considerably so.
You can set your personal credit threshold to whatever you want, and the scheduling software will keep adding pairings to your month until it either reaches your threshold or can't legally add any more pairings in the month. As a junior lineholder, the computer may not have a lot left to select from by the time it reaches you, but generally there will be opportunities to pick up flying if you want to. It may not be in your base, though.
I wouldn't say one base is better than another, but I think it's probably a better bet to be in large bases that have lots of flying. IND, LGA, EWR, and CMH are all big bases. One advantage of being based in or near NYC is you have both EWR and LGA to pick up from.
Holidays are paid as an extra min day (4:12) if you are on duty that day, meaning you have a trip scheduled or a reserve day scheduled, regardless of whether you get used on reserve or not.