Originally Posted by
SrfNFly227
Alright, as a new DTW FO who is still on reserve, I will respond to those of you suggesting we are overworked. I have sat a few nights without being used and have only flown 18 hours all month. I have called to get open time and been denied because they "need" me on reserve. As I understand it, we had three ready reserve fo's at the airport last night and not one got a call. With even more people coming out of training soon, it could get worse for those of us who may want to fly more than the monthly minimum.
That being said, I could be in a minority here. Maybe I am sitting on days that are running smoothly. I have heard of people getting used a lot, just haven't seen it first hand.
If all you do, or the majority of your reserve periods are ready or airport reserve, you'll rarely fly. I suggest you to bid for either a high speed line or bid for a reserve line with no ready reserve. In Detroit life is easy compared to MEM or MSP. A coulple of FO friends in MEM told me that they got bumped back to a high speed line. They've been on the line since late '07. Also, is not like we are understaffed right now, is just that they keep increasing those dam** high speed lines. Each crew member only covers 40-50 hrs a month with a high speed line, so crew utilization is minimal. At least in MEM there are 22 high speed lines for this month.