beancounter

ding ding ding, we have a winner. The staffing model just hasn't gotten to his/her base or aircraft yet.

beancounter

Boy are you guys in for a surprise. PHX has been getting it for a while, now CLT and PHL are starting to complain, next is DCA now that their personal scheduler is gone, and soon it will hit the others. Fun times ahead. Yeehaaaw!

PS: I hope I'm wrong and things improve after SLI, FOS, and new PBS, but all I have been experiencing is a downward trend.

viper548

I haven't broken 50 hours in a month all year. I'm usually long call with weekends off. I tend to get assigned low paying trips and never seem to get 4 day trips. I often get a 3 day when in the 4 day bucket. Reserve in CLT was much better than in DCA, but it was probably just as bad over the summer months.

Csy Mon

Been reserve pretty much since I came here November 13th 2000.
3 years vacation and back in 2007. Could hold a line from 2012' B-757/767 MIA. Flew a few lines but bid back to Reserve Short Call.
Good life if I bid the 05:00 RAPs as most International flights were afternoon/evening.
Things may have changed, just saying how it was the last few years for me. YMMV.

beancounter

Well I hope things change for the better for you, for all of us, unfortunately that just hasn't been the case out here.

H8Flying

I'm legacy US. Everything subject to change with PBS and single FOS Oct 1st as we transition to the American way. I bid early RAP's as CLT A320 Capt to avoid late night/Red Eye flying but as a result I get called nearly every day. How many days you have on doesn't really matter if your RAP fits the trip they are trying to fill. Lots of scheduling abuse and FAR 117 difficulties and that will only increase as everyone tries to figure out our new single operating system. Late RAPS like 2100 get used less but be prepared for phone calls between 2100 and 0900 am. There may be sweet spots around the system, like A330 reserve in CLT but crew planning usually figures it out to spread the flying around more equally and increase utilization. In general it is a lousy lifestyle in the twilight of my career.

H8Flying

Frip

A typo perhaps?

2002-2004 saw ~ 3,000 furloughs, several hundred of those were already Captains, products of a long and rigorous Captain upgrade program, and thus proven "ready".

Upsddown

You and they aren't going anywhere. Reminds me of the pilots that swore they would not fly past 60 and here they remain even though they are over 60 today.

Going to Delta or United? Remember a decade ago when everyone wanted to bail to SWA? Guess what? Pilots from SWA are now bailing to AA. Why? Because every airline being on top is cyclical if you wait around long enough.

Reserve is not fun at "any" airline. Reserve is meant to be a short term transitory life as you build seniority. Unfortunately during times of stagnation there is no way to build seniority.

Not sure how long you have been at legacy AA/LUS but you have no idea
how much better reserve rules and technology enhancements are then they were in the past.

Let me mention a few.

No cells phones, had to be tethered to a land line (until beepers were invented).

No long call. On call 24 hours a day and couldn't sit reserve out of base.

No RAPs. Had to arrive at base the night before your first day in order to be available for early morning call outs on your first day. Often had to remain at base the last night of reserve if you weren't released on the last day.

No RAPs meant no margarita with your burrito dinner since you were on call 24/7.

No such thing as a Golden day.

Didn't get to plot your reserve days off like PBS will soon allow.

Commuter policy. What's that? You missed a commuter flight that caused a delay or cancellation of your flight you got a one-way trip to the Chief Pilots office. Many a pilot lost their careers because they pushed this too far.

I could go on and on but I think most get the picture.

To the pilot who asked about reserve.
It's not fun dealing with the uncertainties of reserve but with the upcoming retirements at AA, reserve for new hires will be short lived. With limited exceptions, everyone on reserve beyond new hires is by choice, whatever their circumstances.

Given all that has happened over the past decade and given they are still here today no one at AA is going to quit because they don't like reserve.

Each airline has some good reserve rules and some bad reserve rules. In the end, reserve is not the coveted award at any airline.

Reserve is not the reason to make your airline choice.

andrewtac

Perhaps I am still high on the indoc koolaide, but this thread has me curious. On short call for the first three months I was lucky to break 50 hours trying to get scheduled as much as I could. I got premium trips as well. Now on long call this month and I have been at home more than gone on my duty days, I think I am at about 25 hours right now; and the long call guys are supposed to be flying more. At the end of last month I looked at several different airplanes and domiciles (though none were LUS bases) and the average was between 40-50 hours, some in the 20s and there might have been one or two in the 70s. One of my crashpad buddies on the 73 did break mins a month ago. Short call commuting sucks, no way around it. I am fortunate to have a single leg commute that I can usually get day of and long call commuting isn't bad. Even when I can hold a line I will probably stay on long call as I'll have more time at home.

Sliceback

No typo. It was in response to this post -

"Seriously, we've got 12-14 yr guys here looking at bailing,"

2016 minus 12-14 = 2002-2004.

Like I said, the worst pilots we ever hired. ;-)