This exactly. Even 824's want to bail. Don't get me wrong, there most certainly are some that are fixated on AAG and maintaining VC. Certainly NOT the majority

 

First off DFW is better staffed than ORD. It's not uncommon to see someone get multiple days in a row where they don't get called. A guy senior to me got 5 reserve days in a row with a no call at the end of November. And someone else got 5 in a row off in December. A couple guys over Thanksgiving got three days in a row. It's not uncommon at all to have 4-5 people a day not called out in DFW.

110 is obviously on the extreme high side and doesn't happen often. But it's not too difficult to hit 90 only picking up two days of OT. Two 4 hour turns at 200% will put you at 91.

 

Seems tough. But CDOs, sitting standby and the likes help people get nights at home during their reserve stint at least.

 

Reserve, ORD, FO. Estimated paycredit for January - 109.5 hrs:
75 hrs guarantee +
18 hrs for a two-day OT 200% trip (9 hrs flight time) +
10 hrs for a day trip OT at 150% (6.5 hrs flight time) +
6.5 hrs for a day trip OT at 150% (4.25 hrs flight time)

Got 12 days off due to a 7 day conflict (bid smart and you can have that nearly every month) so I had 4 days off for OT pick-up instead of the standard 3 days. So 110 is VERY doable on reserve without sacrificing QOL if you live in base. If this was in December when it was 200% for the entire month, it'd be even more. Expecting to stay home at least 4-5 days on RAP.

 

Or there's this way of doing it. Man I can't wait for the new hires to get on the line to properly staff this place again where this is possible for more people.

 

That's fantastic. It hasn't been happening that way in ORD. I only had 10 days off in December and I know others who Scheduling attempted to JM through their 3 days off. Unfortunately I have too many family obligations to work more days than that.

 

"Fantastic" as in unbelievable? Well, it is true. Already logged one RSV day at home in January. As for JM's, I've been lucky so far and managed to avoid them (luck and savviness combined, I guess). One strategy to limit your exposure to JM's is to bring your number of days off to 8 by maxing out your OT before the month even begins. This way they won't be able to JM you as their computers won't let them schedule anything if it brings you below 8 days off (at least I don't know of any instances of people being JM'd into the less-than-8-days-OFF situation). And I don't have family obligations other than to have some weekends off and sleep in my own bed as often as possible. I admit it is more difficult if your family obligations are more pressing. And yes, I am lucky to live in base.

 

Having been based at one point or another at all three of our current bases ORD is by far the most abused, especially on the E145. If I would have lived around LGA/JFK the QOL on reserve would have been exceptional. Never got flown anywhere near guarantee when I was there.

DFW was somewhere in the middle and you tend to stay within the system. I anticipate that to continue since we'll be the only 50 seat airline starting this summer. For what it's worth the schedules seem better as well, not really saying much though. The airport doesn't get bogged down by WX nearly as often either. E75 reserve and line flying has been pretty good from the guys I talk to. Growing fleet with longer legs make the reserve life more predictable and generally easier. It's also a much nicer airport to sit ready reserve. The food options are good and finding a quiet place to sit is much easier, plus free wifi.

ORD is a hot mess with WX and deicing. The only positive I found was if you're a commuter it was really easy to get overnights and having United flying to roughly all the same destinations made getting to and from the airport easier as well. I seemed to cover more out of base flying as well because of ORD's central location to all of AA's hubs.

 

I live in base too, but I cannot do less than 11 days off. I'll pick up OT when I have a line with 17 days off, or in other words never. In ORD in December I don't remember seeing a single reserve unused at home after about 9am, the entire month. Usually they were zeroed out the night before with open time remaining. I admit I didn't check every day.

I meant not getting called multiple days in a month is fantastic, as in great. I wish staffing was better here.

 

Question for commuters. Once you hold a line, how commutable are the trips? Can you commute in and out or at least on one end of the trip?


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