Reserve depends a lot on fleet and base. Right now there is a lot of movement so everyone is advancing quickly (relatively). Most trips in the bid package are 3-5 days for those fleets. On reserve you are likely to get some shorter trips that have been broken up too. There are a small % of 1-2 day trips in the bid package, but they go fairly senior usually (depends on the base).

 

Lots of variables there. No short answer.

So here's a short answer: 3-6 months on reserve. 3 day average trip.

Timing matters. More regular lines/fewer reserves in the summer than winter.
737 is a bit more senior than the other 2 jets you mention. So probably a bit longer on reserve.

Tons of movement for the bottom half of the seniority list these days so you can go anywhere and do pretty much whatever you want after your initial seat freeze expires.

Only advice is try to pick the airframe you want to be in unless you don't mind going back to the schoolhouse after your year is up. Some guys don't mind training. Some guys avoid it like the plague. Sitting in a hotel on Virginia Avenue for 6 weeks kinda sucks if your family is in another city.

Welcome aboard.

 

13 unfilled 320B slots in SLC on the bid that just came out. Didn't look for unfilled slots in LAX or SEA, but this should generate some west coast slots for newhires in class.

 

I'm a newbie, but the drop sure looks suspicious given what was in the AE. I would think there needs to be some significant movement behind the scenes to end up with new hires being offered some of those....but I sure hope it is so!

 

They have to offer the positions in an AE before they assign them to newhires. In SLC they posted 20 320B vacancies and only awarded 7. So now it is fair game for them to assign 13 SLC 320B slots in class.

However, they will send newhires to the bases with the tightest staffing first so who knows what they will do.

 

To clarify something.

I don't blame the pilots for taking Mil leave.

I do blame management for staffing issues.

I was hastily trying to point out that mil leave impacts staffing, just like sick calls.

Which is why I also don't buy the company's stance that sick leave is a "real" problem, or DAL has it worse than other airlines.

Both mil leave, and sk time are known (planned) for when making staffing calculations.

I think the real issue is MANAGEMENT uses the wrong variables and that is the source of staffing malfunctions.

 

^^^^^

Yes. I think they count on way more pilots willing to fly GS's than they actually have. Some months I'll do as many GS's as I can, other months I do none. There is very little predictability in how many pilots will fly GS's so some months GS's will cover all sick calls, other months not so much.

With all the sick data they blasted us with in the CR newsletters you would think they could staff the categories to cover the historical amount of sick calls in each category.

 

Thanks Moonshot

 

Thanks Check!

 

Jeff,

So many variables and pretty much been answered as well as it's gunna be. In general, the 717 and M88 are the most Jr and the only people who AE into ATL on them are the Escape from New York crowd. Put another way, if you take one of those planes to ATL, once you get there anyone flowing into it will probably be Jr to you. Which is good. And people above you are more likely to flee asap to bigger and better. Which is also good for your relative seniority.

I think what I said is true as an overall trend. However, there are 6 month stretches (or more) where no one gets ATL 88 or 717 for a couple AEs. If you happen to be the plug when that happens, that sucks. I don't know any way of predicting that.

Something else, 73 seems to block more. 73 guys seem to get off probation faster than anyone else. If you care. And personally I'd recommend caring more about getting off reserve if you're gunna be commuting.