Just a note on commuting on reserve. With the advent of better reserve systems in the 90's many started commuting on reserve. I would strongly recommend that under the Delta system pilots make every effort not to commute on reserve. I realize that circumstances force this issue at times but I would never do it if there are other options. Even with a 12 hour leash it can be impossible from many city pairs. If they call you at home at 8 PM can you actually get to your base and make a 8 AM sign in? It can be very hard and its likely there will be no back up flights as required. Avoid commuting on reserve under the current Delta system if at all possible!!!!

I hear many DAL-N types talking how much better DAL Res is due to only 6 short calls a month. Talking to S guys, I hear in practicality that is assigned by Schedules needs, and that the begining of most Res rotations starts with a short call, so you don't get the long call option from your home often enough to make it worthwhile, even if the city pairs do work.

My experience hasd been reserve is only tolerable if you live in base within an hour of check-in

I'm ahead of the game!

I blew it.... got a 8MB several months ago. It's getting to be a slow a molasses

I have sat reserve on an RJ commute. Frankly, I didn't find it as hellish as most seem to describe it. Of course, that was when we had 8 SC days a month. I usually sat between 2 and 4 SCs. I think that the average today is just over 3. Of course, everyone's philosophy is different. My philosophy was to either fly or else not fly. I was usually proactive if I saw myself getting close to YS a commutable trip. It usually worked. Of course, sometimes it seemed like scheduling was out to get me--such as assigning SC for the next day after one of those 4 day commutable trips. When I looked back at the end of the month, however, I usually found 3 short calls, a couple of 3 or 4 day trips, and an odd 1 or 2 day trip. Not bad. Of course, nobody will ever convince me that 70 hours of pay for being responsible more days than the average lineholder is not WAY too low. This is one of the things which needs addressing in C2012 as well as some more seniority control on R days. In general, I found reserve tolerable, and I was in a position to get the big holidays off by bidding reserve. These days, the heavy category reserves are doing well, esp the 777. Those guys are pretty much NOT flying. By being realistic with your expectations, knowing that every once in a while you will probably hit a bad patch, reserve life is manageable if you know your PWA.

My .02--the "pro" paper if you will

Just another $.02, in the bases with the straight international like the 765 and ER, those are really nice to commute to on reserve. Especially South America trips where some bemoan the red eye down and back but the good part is you show very late and you're done like at 6am. The downside is its a 4-day not worth much more than a 3 day.

But I think GRU got back in to JFK around 5:45, you had to wait for customs to open and then you had a plethora of flights to get back on albeit they still were full last summer but maybe this year they're better. But its better than trying to grab a 5, 6 or 7pm flight home on the backside like everyone else was trying to do as well.

Reserve living in base is a cake walk and there are ways to make it... .... y'all take care, gotta... go. ;)

Sailing, that's great advice if you have any say in the matter. However, now is not the time to be moving to a new base just to avoid the commute to reserve.

Sailing,

I commuted from SLC to LAX to fly the 767-400 for about a year. Some months I would bid reserve. At that time all we did was Hawaii flying.

It really wasn't a problem and over the course of the year I never used an offline flight. I think once I didn't get my first choice of flight.

I do agree that commuting adds an additional level of stress, and commuting to reserve even moreso, but my experience (SLC-LAX) wasn't bad.

I have no desire to try SLC-LGA or JFK.

Look at the good side. At least you get to fly the pride of long beach.

My friend Bunny Lebowski designed the hydraulic system when she interned with Douglas while in Cosmetology school. Today Bunny doesn't work. Come to think of it, neither do Douglas hydraulics. Thank goodness you don't need them.

I have been a reserve commuter for the better part of my whole aviation career. Sometimes you choose to commute for a not so important reason (gf, mistress whatever) , sometime you can't. You just have to make the best of it. I try not to fret over things I can't control, like trying to run over an old lady to catch my commute, but then I don't dilly dolly and be not prepared when the cabin door opens. I know where my flight to home will leave, and what are my options.

Now some of us have commitment that we can't back out of (to me, this job isn't at the pinnacle of my personal life), we just have to learn to cope with it. I've flown with my shares of DFW commuters. Some would be so ticked off when we're coming in late, and griped about he wouldn't get home for another 1 1/2 day because of that stupid ATC delay, and then some were able to negotiate with their families and just move to the darn base instead. Not everyone can do that, especially in this economic downturn.

I certainly understand the need of the company to relocate us whenever/wherever they see fit to capture "synergy", but some of us (especially our F-NWA brothers) will find a rude awakening to some of our reserve rules. Please, please read the reserve section top to bottom and ask questions if you have any. I know i still have things i quite not understand in those subsections buried in there somewhere.

For my C2012 wishlist, if the company wants to relocate us every 3 months, they better relax their current moving expenses criteria, because some of us may not be able to hold their base for much longer. We'll see a lot of transcon commuters, as we've start to see in this trend in the last displacement.

my 2 cents...