Interesting. So somewhere between 10 and 16 days/month is the sweet spot. What would that number be in your case? How many days/month would you be willing to work on reserve and be happy. Not flaming.. just asking.

Also, you have hit on something else that I don't think many realize either. Reserve differences due to seasonality, and how short calls are assigned. I find it really interesting that during the high op tempo months of summer (at least in my category) you will see 2-3 or so SC's per day, yet the flying has increased dramatically. In the winter months, when flying has throttled back considerably, we have MORE guys sitting SC. Why is that? Wouldn't an increase in flying during the summer months require a corresponding increase in SC requirements? Logic would tell me that it would because you have more opportunities for last minute sick outs... All of this tells me that there is NO.. as in zero logic to the assignation of said short calls. But all is well, we are gonna allow 7/month...

Random layover thoughts...

Chicks in rio wear thongs on the beach, no matter how big or old their ass is...can be a good thing or a bad thing....

Same for the dudes...definitely a bad thing.

Brazilian music drives me nuts.

The hotel wireless works at the cheap beach bar across the street.

Overall, it's good to be a Delta guy.

It's a good question, how many days do you think you should work for 70hrs pay?

I'm with you on this one... The ONE thing that would be nice about them would be the ability to get real time weather when you are at the hold short looking at a T-storm off the end of the runway....

I haven't really thought about it that much. But if we were to get 5.5 hours/day.. that would be 13... 5/day would be 14... I guess I could live with either.

Caipirinhas can make you think you are invisible.

So, you're saying I'm not?

13 days is what I am willing to work for 70 hours pay. As a commuter (I know, it's a choice), short call days are spent away from home therefore I consider them work days. I spend long call days at home, Even though I have to be ready to go, I am at home so I do not consider those work days. Obviously I can never plan on a long call day. Doing the math, I am happy with 70 hours pay any month where I get 5 long calls. I have been getting 5 or more long calls pretty consistently since September. I expect this to change in June.

I personally am not willing to give up what is in the negotiator's notepad for a higher guarantee. I can live with not getting credit for short call. It infuriates me though that lineholders get more credit for the exact same trip. Once you are assigned a trip on reserve, you should be treated as a lineholder for that trip. I had one trip on reserve towards the end of the month where I was about to break guarantee by about 4 hours. Our plane broke at an outstation in the middle of the day right after we pushed. 7 hours later we were flying that same plane back to ATL. Our last turn was obviously given to another crew. My captain got paid for it. I didn't even though we finished when we were supposed to. My point is reserves do not get cancellation pay. The 5:15 look-back is pretty much worthless due to dead-head only days and trips with less duty periods than calender days.

Would you please send them my way? Thanks in advance!

In my category, there are more short call pilots available in the winter months because there are more reserves available. This is true in my category for weekends also. You will see every reserve on a weekend either flying or on short call. There might be 1 or 2 short calls available. On Monday, there are 8-9 short calls given out and hardly any reserves being assigned trips.