Airline Pilot Central Forums - APA: Line will be held on scope

Quote:

Originally Posted by inline five (Post 1743741)

Ready reserve, as airport standby was called at my commuter, tended to actually go senior.

It was a bid line just like our R and S blocks are. There were days/times assigned just like short call here. Example 4am-12pm, 8 hour shifts with 4 hours min pay for the day (really it was a 2:1 duty rig that paid). Any time you were assigned a trip that ended past 12 pm you were essentially going over guarantee because you were paid on duty per day.

I bid it as a commuter because the first line would start at 12pm-8am then an 8 hour rest period then 4am-12pm ending at 12 pm on your last day. It was completely commutable on both sides, and you never once had to talk to scheduling. I also flew very little.

It was also popular with guys who lived close to base because you could sit at home. It was a 10 min call-back period so you just had to be ready to jump when they called. Instead of sitting at the airport, most of the time I slept at my pad.

It felt like a real job, because you only had to "work" 8 hours a day. We had our own ready reserve room sectioned off from the main crew room, with recliners and a TV/video gaming system (it was after all, the commuters) and most guys brought their laptops. Generally you'd sleep till about 10:30-11:00am then wander around an hour then go home if you stayed at the airport.

Really a super cush gig, especially for those who lived nearby. If I lived near the airport, I wouldn't have bid anything else. That being said, our S reserves hardly work here so there isn't much incentive at this point to bid a hot reserve block if it even existed.

Now, converting an R or S reserve to hot deserve would be BS. The only way it should exist in the company's bag of tricks is dedicated lines of it.

At my regional it was used and abused to the maximum possible extent. Scheduling would not allow any preference or swaps between pilots and it was assigned to the most junior pilots every day until they hit their max for the month. If we don't get the language removed outright, then we need to rewrite the language so that it is unambiguous and to our liking.

We need to see specific, ironclad language (preferably with examples) throughout the contract. NO room for misinterpretation or words like "shall, may, will attempt."