Originally Posted by
ImSoSuss
Yep, this thread is about Reserve Flexibility as a new hire and for more than a year in most bid statuses you will have none at American Airlines. Looking at my bid status for the month of June all the Juniors are all maxed out near 85 hours while the Seniors are all around 20 to 30 hours.
The only flexibility in the summer months is turning pass all off, balloting high credit trips and trying to race to 79:46 (the minimum to make the 5:15 daily credit enough to exceed the 85 limit) before your last day of availability. Then one can get 3-4 days off guaranteed at the end of the bid period, perhaps even a couple more with very judicious placement of the guaranteed 4 day off block.
The slower months aren't quite as brutal but flexibility (defined as getting specific days off) remains quite limited for the junior pilot.