Originally Posted by
crewdawg
What do you mean they're not using reserves as originally intended? If you mean all the SC, I'm shocked they never did this before, we give them almost no reason not to.
They're treating reserves like line pilots with no line. I posted a last month that on average I am flying 8.5 days out of every 10 available days, and that average has increased since then. I fly every single day I am on reserve with very rare exception; Last month I flew every day. And with the lack of reserve availability it is impossible to swap X-days or manipulate my schedule at all. That is most definitely not the intended function of reserve pilots, at least not historically speaking.
To be fair, reserve for me was a choice I made to be a junior guy in a senior seat. I get that and that is fine. But this is my 4th airline and I am 2nd generation airline pilot so I know what reserve life should look like and this ain't that. Fortunately, the guard rails we do have up are nice (18-hour LC, report times, etc), but the company is getting a little far afield with how low the reserve levels are, at least for my NB A seat in ATL, which is all I pay attention to. The short call abuse doesn't affect me because I never sit SC. In the last year I have actually had unused SC 3 times. If I get assigned SC I usually get a trip assigned to me a few hours later.
I credited 105 hours last month on reserve (with one RRPY credit). I average about 80 and my RAW scores are routinely in the 150 range before I fill up or the month ends. I don't mind breaking RLV in credit every month, but I work 17-18 days a month to do it with no ability to manipulate my schedule.