This topic interests me because my company uses this to punish pilots. Our reserve is a strict "90 minutes to the parking lot" and 10 minute call return. They manage to hand out several no-shows a month due to pilots literally calling scheduling back at 11+ minutes for a reserve call or showing late. Unfortunately there's little appetite to spend negotiating capital to fix this because the majority of pilots have no chance of sitting reserve unless they pick up a shift and they see reserve staffing as cannon fodder to make sure they make it home on time that night (rescue flights, minimal delays due to sick calls, etc). So be glad your show times are undefined because if it becomes specific, yes the company will have no choice but to enforce it. Also if people abuse the vague report time you will lose it because at the end of the day, unions know where the majority is and they will say they had no choice because the company made it too expensive to keep.

 

When does PS commuting drop dead?

 

Oct 31,.........

 

fortunately for us, our reserve rules are generally good enough that even senior pilots will bid reserve (even on domestic categories, in some bases, there can be times that the plug isn't senior enough to hold reserve and must fly a line). This helps keep reserve as something most pilots care about.

 

The turn time the company is able to use on DH’s should be the same standard used for PS commuting. Why should it be different?

 

And also no backup flight for DH’s, so none required for PS.

It’s entirely reasonable to have a minimum arrival time if a permanent PS is negotiated, and is in fact likely considering those pilots who chose to skirt the intent of the original agreement to have a reasonable. Thank them if it even happens.

Having said that, I’ve been scheduled for a 15 minute turn to a DH before, so…

 

In my experiences a SC of 2 hours is rare. Usually it's 6 or 8 hours or sometimes more (although it has been a few years since I sat RSV) OR it's 45 minutes... In which case the scheduler has always asked "When can you safely get to the airport so I can let Crew Tracking know? Please be safe, we'll see you in X amount of time."

Same goes for short notice GSs. I have learned over the years that when they are calling that late in the game the flight is already late and DAL is just trying salvage a flight instead of cancelling it. If you are 15 minutes later than you 'could have been' because you took a few extra minutes to drive the speed limit the airline isn't going to grind to a halt.

Also, as has been said, don't abuse the fact that SC is not specifically defined!

 

How would you abuse this? You are literally saving them from cancelling a flight.

 

Not the 45 min call-out example, but the whole 'promptly available' SC with no specific time. Basically what everyone else mentioned, don't take 4 hours to show up if you live an hour from the airport and they give you 3 hours notice.

 

I still don’t see it. The pilot wants the GS, if it’s gonna take too long scheduling will move on or cancel the flight. I think GS pilots make more of an effort than the average reserve since they won’t get paid in full (or at all) if they don’t make it. I think there are ways some “abuse” the goodwill of the company, this isn’t one of them.