As other have said, it depends. Being senior enough to get weekday reserves is great, but not if you're the most junior guy there. Being willing and able to drop a day here and there is helpful. You can almost always make it back with SCC and a GS. A little flexibility goes a long way. Just watch some schedules of those around your seniority on reserve. You can go back almost two years looking at their schedule. That will give you a feel for what's possible.

I think those who don't do it, think we just spend a ton of time on it daily, but that's generally not true. It's certainly not any more work than going and flying a full line every month. But giving up after a month or so of being abused is missing the forest for the trees. You don't learn to land on your first try.



I do get why some choose to do it. Fewer days tied to the company, knowing what you'll fly vs flying potentially crappy trips, etc... I bid lines in the summer because I want complete control over my schedule and I want to work less. What I can never wrap my mind around is that many won't bid reserve because their spouse would rather them be gone MORE, just to know when they're gone. If you plan for them being gone, but then they're home, that seems like a massive win to me. Not judging, I just don't understand it. Either way, we can't all be on reserve, so it works out well.