Originally Posted by Hedley

You are supposed to “exercise prudent judgment, including awareness of weather and other factors affecting travel…”, however the definition of prudent judgement is open to interpretation. You have to have 2 flights on any airline that are scheduled to arrive prior to report time. If you miss your primary flight, you have to call scheduling and let them know you’re down to your backup. Depending on reserve staffing, they might positive space you or tell you to call back if you miss your flight. My experience has been that when I was commuting to the 777, they’d always positive space me, however that rarely happens on the NB since there is usually a field standby. If you miss your backup they remove you from the trip without pay, and without any risk of punishment.

My commute has about half of the flights being CRJ 200’s and you should basically plan on them being weight restricted and unable to take a jumpseater, especially in the winter. On non-exclusive regionals like SkyWest the jumpseat is awarded at time of check in, up to 12 hours prior. On exclusive regionals, the jumpseat priority goes by seniority, behind all pilots on their own metal of course. Welcome to the machine.