Originally Posted by
ExperimentalAB
QOL is both subjective and objective. Nobody is saying three-day Hawaii’s with no redeyes for every guy. I’m comfortably north of the horror scene of our reserve system here, but I’ll be damned if I ever put my family through that again. As others have said here, our reserves need more time off with how hard they’re worked. 85 hours of reserve is more like 125 hours as a line-holder, and I think we can all agree that is just too much. I don’t want to fly with an FO stuck on perma-reserve whose spouse is ready to walk because they’re never home, even though they live in-base. Is that too much to ask?
I don't disagree. So with that logic of you not putting your family willingly through that again, can we not hold the same accountability to those who took the first upgrade and willfully and deliberately DID choose to do that? I took the first upgrade fully aware of the consequences. Fully aware I would be on reserve, fully aware that if the music stopped, I would be vulnerable, and I was downgraded when the Airbus drew down. That is the plight of being junior. I don't want anyone to "pay dues" but being junior just sucks, period.
I want reserves to get more time off for sure. The VX/AS merger rhetoric was that AS is still a small town super regional, so the contract reflects as such (though our current CBA was a drastic improvement over the dogcrap AS had before the merger). There is no more super regional or "we aren't the top 3, so that's not what we deserve in the CBA" BS that has been uttered in the past. It is time to be a real worldwide airline and have reserve rules that reflect that. We need reserve coverage, WB and NB LC and SC that meet or exceed the industry. Nobody who wears a pilot uniform at this airline will argue otherwise. Going from 18 to 15 days on call would be a welcome sight and I hope it happens.