Who exactly are "the slaves belowdecks"? Are they the reserve pilots that have consistently had the lowest reserve utilization in the industry? Are they the junior line holders that get stuck working every Friday/Sunday of the month?

Are there some reserve pilots that get jerked around? absolutely, I have repeated it to everyone who asks that sitting in reserve in FL would be terrible at least four months out of the year...TERRIBLE.

Sitting reserve in a small base is incredibly cush. You get called out a couple times a week. Some small bases (BLI) the reserves don't even fly enough to get their landings.

If you want to liken sitting reserve in FL to being a "slave belowdeck who must keep rowing" then whatever. I think it might be a little out of touch, but I don't judge. Siting reserve in LAS or IWA can be a pain, but i still pick up RAPs to pad my pay and roll the dice because its still not that bad and in most cases its free money.

And for new hires, who are most certainly going to a small base, sitting reserve is generally pretty nice. If you're trying to get to FL, I'd forget about it because your QOL will be way different than most of the pilots across the system. Just my two cents.