Actually I think it would be a pretty simple guide:

1) Be more senior
2) Drop all trips ASAP
3) Put in blanket slips for everything that can be a proffer, and use autoaccept. Update daily to keep them proffers.
4) Profit

Note: This is not a knock on autoaccept. But this really would be the strategy, right?

 

I'm not really sure if auto accept makes any difference. You only need to be the senior-most eligible pilot with an appropriate slip in.

 

Depends on when they cut bait and change to RR or IA. If it is between steps of coverage then auto accept doesn't matter as it will just go to the most senior pilot with a slip in for whatever the next step is. But if they are in the middle of a coverage step when they IA it the pay will go to whoever had it on their schedule at the time during the 12 minute acknowledgement window. If it wasn't on someone's schedule at that moment then it would go to the next pilot who had raised their hand in the batch.

 

The day after vacation, you can't be used until 1800 and since you have CQ the day after that, you'd be unusable on reserve day between vacation and CQ. You're not contactable during CQ, so the day after is pretty much gone as well. On the WB, I'd often throw 2 days on either side and kill 4 days of reserve with almost no chance of being used. A few times I even put 3 days on either side and was never used.



Like so many things, it's best to just learn it by doing. Sure you'll screw up here and there just like bidding, but it will be worth it in the long run. If you live local, not taking the time to learn it is a giving up a lot of time getting paid to stay home. The SRH is actually pretty good of a guide with the bullet points for LC pilots and SC pilots. Of course you're on the hook more days per month, which isn't nothing. However, if you're senior and learn the system, you'll want to throw up when you think of bidding a line and having to go to work 12-15 days/month.

 

S T F U... all yall!

 

How senior is senior for the context of your post?

 

That's a bit of a sliding scale. It's all about where you fall on the days you're on call. You can be relatively junior and working all the weekends, but if you're the most senior reserve working the weekends then you've got some buffer to not get abused every day. Conversely, if you've got some seniority to hold a Mon-Thur schedule, but you're the most junior person to do so, well, you're gonna get used. Overall the best general strategy seems to be a Mon-Thur schedule with some good buffer of people junior to you on those same days. I'd imagine that's probably around 50% category seniority in most NB categories. WB can really get screwy with the seasonal swings in flying and thus bidding patterns.

 

It varies by BES. Check your latest composite report and see where someone close to you falls in the x/x Reserve portion. That will tell you where you might fall seniority-wise in Reserve. Check the number of reserves versus the total pilots in category. It's not as simple as straight-up seniority. I understand it's complicated as I've spent months figuring out myself, especially when considering a change in equipment via AE's.

I've probably already said too much. REG good RES bad.

 

Sorry, I fell off my horse. REG GOOD RES BAD!

 

Successful reserve bidding requires comfort with uncertainty. This isn't natural for most pilots. Think of reserve, especially WB reserve like investing in stocks vs bonds. You will outperform over the long term with some swings along the way. Line bidding is good for monthly budgeting. Reserve bidding is better suited for annual budgeting.