Reserve at Compass
 

How is reserve at Compass? How long are guys looking at waiting to get a line if hired at the moment? Is it possible to commute on reserve without a crashpad? Lots of Airport Ready Reserve? I'd be coming in from ORD and my current airline is stagnant and going nowhere, trying to make the decision on whether to make the leap or not.

Would also be interested to hear from a CPZ pilot about commuting to reserve. I live in Chicago, so am hoping to get either DTW or MSP.

Reserve at Compass is not all that bad. The worst part is that we perform a lot of airport ready reserve. Reserve without a crash pad would be impossible. You just don't fly that much. Expect to be on reserve 12 months or less, all dependent on when you get in.

I've read some mention of long call reserve in the new contract. Does anyone have info on this?

Framework was outlined, but language was not written due to the expedited nature of negotiations and implementation of 117. My guess for the start of long call will be around April or May.

Under the new contract, which some parts will be effective Jan and others later, short call reserve will greatly improve. Min day is 4 hr, bid for the first day RAP, 12 days off for 31 day months, and more days off during vacation months. Airport reserve remains unchanged, expect on your last and second to last day of reserve stretch to do airport reserve.

How will short call improve? I'll be on the line in Feb.

Reserve at Compass
 

Reserve is a silo system based off time flown for the month so seniority is basically thrown out the window once the bid is done. They are pretty efficient at making people fly under min and spreading it out. It's basically a crap shoot as to what flying you get. Under our old contract your self released at 6 pm on the last day but they are usually pretty good letting you go early. Expect ready on your last two days of reserve if not giving flying. It's bearable, scheduling works with you for the most part. I second you'll need a good crashpad if commuting to reserve. If you get hired now in my opinion expect reserve for awhile. A lot of people on the seniority list now. Is what it is

Reserve isn't bad at all at CPZ, albeit I live in base. You won't fly much and when you do, you will usually know 18-24 hours in advance. They usually preassign open time trips around 12-2pm every day for the next day so most of the time you know where you stand. There is a lot of reserve transparency here which is nice. As far as commuting , you can usually email scheduling and let them know you would like to have your reserve day start later in the day if you are coming in. Usually on your last day you will sit AM ready and be done at 2:30 or they will most likely release you after 3pm. If you have no assignments on your last day by 6pm and haven't gotten called your automatically released...

If you catch them on a good day they'll release you even earlier even on ready. I used to always catch the 1:00 pm flight home, released at 12:30. Apparently the opentime will be assigned earlier in the day with the new contract too.

Would living a four hour drive away work most of the time overnight if I were to fly up to my actual base every day on reserve?