That’s exactly why I said “tread lightly on probation”.

 

How often can I expect to have a 3pm assignment for a 14 hour next morning callout? Is that typical or an outlier?

Do reserves get used a lot? How many days can I expect to be assigned on a typical reserve month?

 

Long call reserves almost always get their trips assigned the day before. Occasionally you'll get the AM call for a late departure 12 hrs later. You're looking for the Goldilocks assignment - a PM evening after trips are assigned (by 4 PM) for an afternoon trip that just popped up. That's a unicorn. The next assignment that would work for you would be a regular assignment (3-4 PM) that leaves in the next afternoon. Every AM trip you wouldn't be able to get back to cover. It's unworkable. It's not an "overzealous Chief Pilot" that will fire you...it's almost any Chief Pilot that would fire you if you sit reserve and can't cover the majority of the trips you're assigned.

 

For planning purposes and in order to make an informed decision, you should assume you gonna be used every single day. There is not typical per se either, in my opinion.

I can tell you this, if you have to choose between the big 3, AA is the way to go if you gonna commute from Colombia. Just understand that the first year is what it is. Plus you should hold a line 3-4 months after OE.

 

The intent of the commuter policy is to allow a pilot that has made every reasonable effort to sign in on time an opportunity to call off the trip without disciplinary action. It is also stated in the policy the commuter policy is to be used infrequently.

please do not abuse our commuter policy. It is one of the few things here better than any other airline. Don’t **** it up.

if you are short call commuting by air is not acceptable.

If you are long call and there is a window of time that you can’t comply with the 12 hour call out you need to be somewhere else during that time.

 

Narrowbody Miami, you are on call 18 days, max they could use you is 16, averaging it all out you’ll probably get used 14 days or so (more during summer, maybe a bit less winter). It’s fairly uncommon to get a trip assigned prior to noon the day prior. Most of the assignments are being made between noon and 1500. On the narrowbody side, many assignments will be made between 1500 and the evening, as people call in sick, they break up trips from other bases, etc. Getting called at 1800, 1900 for a 1000, 1100 am trip would not be uncommon. Once you are a lineholder with just a bit of seniority (maybe a little over a year) you should be able to consistently get trips in MIA that are commutable, providing you prioritize that over everything else. It might be a few years before you can get fully commutable trips and start being picky about a bunch of other stuff. Most of your reserve time as a MIA FO will be while you are on probation, so becoming an amateur lawyer to your chief with the commuter policy the way some people have suggested is not going to work for you. From what you have described, it seems like for about half the day (most of which is during the prime assignment window) you wouldn’t be able to make it. If you really want to live in Colombia, just get a crashpad in MIA until you can hold a line (not too long, suck it up), and then commute from there.