From In-person interview to Reserve
 

Hello, can someone share their experience with envoy from in-person interview to reserve life. Thanks in advance.

1. After the in-person interview, how long after that was your first day of class? Do you get class date options or do you have to take what they give you?
2. After IOE, say you don’t live in base and have to commute, how much of your own accommodations do you have find per month outside of the 4 hotels they give you? Do you get discounts on hotels for the days that you have to pay for a place to stay (assuming you didn’t want the crash pad life). What does that discount look like?
3. How long do you have to sit on “airport standby” before you get to a 2 hr or 12 hour call out? Weeks?, months? Envoy lists a 12 hour call out on their website but I am concerned that is just false advertising.
4. In one month, how many reserve trips do you get per month and what is the duration eg 3, 4, 5 days of being on reserve? Say after a 4 days reserve trip, how long do you get to be OFF before the next one?
5. After IOE,are you flying back-to-back while on reserve?

I appreciate the response. As you can tell I’m very new to this. Have an upcoming in person interview and wanted to learn about these things in advance.

After an interview in late April I was given CTP a week later and an orientation date end of May. Our hotel provider does have crew rates for some hotels, usually like 10-20 bucks cheaper. As for the rest of your questions, depends what base you want/get out of training.

How many nights a commuter needs in base on reserve depends on how much you are flying. For me personally it has varied from none out of pocket to maybe 8. You can research crashpads online if that interests you.

12 hour long call reserve exists but there are only about 2 lines in each base and position so it can go fairly senior. You won't get airport standby every day unless you bid for it or you happen to be at the very bottom of the reserve list all month long. You will start with an 0400-1600 reserve period with a 2 hour call out and some of those shifts will be converted to airport standby depending on your relative seniority and the company's need. Many senior reserve pilots will find themselves on airport standby occasionally depending on the base.

Reserve schedules are typically 4 or 5 reserve days in a row followed by 3 days off. How quickly you move up the reserve list or hold a line is going to depend on what point in the hiring wave you are in. You need pilots coming into your base below you to boost your seniority. Trips are something else entirely. On your reserve day you might be assigned a 4-day trip, a round trip, a standby shift, or you might not be called at all. You might start with an overnight and find it extended into a 5-day trip. How much you fly on reserve depends on your base and relative seniority. I think the 4 am reserve period is more likely to get round trips and 10 am reserve is more likely to get overnights. You will have the ability to bid for any open flying the next day.