Originally Posted by
Freedom2A
DFW CA not so much. Ask any DFW CA on RAP reserve and they're flying or at the very least getting called to sit standby nearly every day. Yes, the good news is we're getting new (and used) aircraft on a monthly basis, but staffing is stretched thin. The number of DFW hard lines for February shot up to about 350ish, up from the average 320-325.
That's because they have a lot of DFW pilots on part time and zero time lines this month. I'm a DFW reserve captain, and I am still amazed at the ability to drop reserve days here, which I couldn't in Phoenix "due to staffing." Phoenix is a smaller base and has far less flying for reserves. I don't think the company's staffing formula works very well in DFW since it's such a big base, and they could definitely use reserves more efficiently. Swaps and drops told me they use the same staffing formula for all the bases, and they don't care how many flights a day there are. I have been based in Chicago too. I for one like the quantity of reserve flying in DFW. It's definitely harder for senior captains hoping to not get called on reserve.