Anything to avoid paying premium these days.

 

So as you make your way around the country, you pick up pieces of trips from other bases and then DH home on the last day of your reserve block?

 

That will happen sometime yes. When you are on rsv for a 4 day block, they own you and they can do absolutely anything they see fit. And if you find yourself flying a turn out of TPA or PHL as a PHX reserve don't be surprised. You won't be doing that all the time of course but you will on occasion

 

I've been on CA RSV for a while now and that's definitely rare for me.

 

Ha! Yes because being able to string a bunch of flying together across the country for a Reserve takes forethought and planning, both of which I have found lacking in the Crew Scheduling department.

 

I think the root of the question comes from Skywest conditioning. Sure we got utilized to cover other bases, and I expect that to happen here as well. DEN LAS PHX are all 1-2 hours from each other. Then DFW once it’s going.

But also what they loved to do was OBR, out of base reserve. TDY you for a week somewhere else. You had a good chance of getting it with a 5 or 6 day bucket, and Long Call was the first to get assigned anything (corresponding to days available and if it was 12+ hours from report time). Flown out to ORD (or any base with your equipment). Sit in a hotel for 5-6 days, getting 2 hour callouts to go sit ready or do a turn and back to your hotel. Sometimes not getting called at all, constantly bored and anxious that they’ll tag you for something.

Short call got TDY sometimes too. More often we got abused to clean up literally anywhere. Talk about foresight and common sense. One time I was OBR in San Francisco. Day 4 of 5, basically unused the whole time, then they tried to notify me outside of a RAP to take a DH (also with less than 2 hrs to report) to go to Houston to clean up a trip a ORD crew was working. Because I was the ONLY crj captain in the whole system available that day. Or 2 hour callouts to DH to Chicago or Dallas to work a 30 min flight with 10hr layover. Just to DH home the next day. And repeat. It was exhausting.

And speaking of ready, they would tack it on EVERYwhere. 1 hr turn in another domicile? They’ll build 30 minutes of ready before your next leg leaves. Just in case they want to reflow you. Last leg before your DH, you could count on Ready with a 15 min buffer to catch your deadhead. Just praying they didn’t call. Or the ol reliable. Finish a trip on day 4, especially an easy 1 leg, then 4-5 hours of ready in base instead of just being release and driving home.

If it just ends up being called in to do a turn, or maybe a typical redeye 2 day, I’m okay with that. I don’t miss having Ready crammed into every corner of my pairings. Getting reflowed in other bases or just whenever they feel like it. Reserve blows, I don’t think I’ll ever change my mind on that. However bad it might be here at times, I don’t think it’ll be as bad as it was back at Skywest.

 

Doesn't happen often. I remember doing trips and always getting RDY tacked on. it sucked. I have flown 3 times in the last month on reserve here. Each time, it was a repo, out and back, or an overnight with a DH the next morning, where I just deviated and went home that night and had a day off. Reserve here has been amazing compared to SkyWest.

 

We need to fix some reserve rules in our next contract. One that really disturbs me is the switching of reserve schedules. I totally understand getting called out and doing a trip and coming back and not aligning with your original reserve window. However, randomly calling people like clock work and switching them from A to B is ridiculous. Now again, I understand that there might be holes that need filled from time to time. This company has taken it to the extreme! You want B reserves on a regular basis, then put them in the da*m bid packet! Total hog wash. They abuse that absolute sh*t out of that loophole. We need to make them more accountable for that. There needs to be a quoted that once is met requires B’s on following months or something. Figure it out union guys. 😂

 

Actually I never got used outside my base on reserve at OO. Even when I was based in LGA with an insane amount of FO’s on reserve I was never deadheaded anywhere to fly a trip from a different base. Maybe I was just lucky or reserve was different on the 175.

I asked because I had heard on a few occasions that your base didn’t mean much while on reserve. You get utilized wherever they need you. That’s more like netjets where I came from just prior to F9. Was hoping that wasn’t the case.

I still live in base. So it will all be positive space unless I choose otherwise and eventually I’ll have a line. It’s all good.

 

I have zero hope, unfortunately. Probably mostly harbored indifference/resentment from the last job. Another problem Skywest had: the old timers either never actually had reserve in either seat, or it was short enough and long enough ago they’d forgotten what it was like. Conversely, new guys sucked it up since it was the first job (or just wanted some PIC and bounce). Just like AA says they won’t waste negotiating capital on X or Y, and I feel like I hear rumblings of that here as well.

There’s a lot of leverage and I hope it’s utilized to refresh work rules across the board. Instead of resignation to just fix one or two things. The not-union at OO spent ages talking up negotiating points, a survey, even this big PowerPoint slides of the TA. The one the company pulled before everyone could vote no. A week later the company came back with a carbon copy of the current contract, but with a pay raise and DC 401k for the real senior folks. Passed with a 2/3 majority like spirit just did. A whole year of talking about being firm, negotiating, and basically just rolled over on the first vote because of some dollar signs.

I think reserve gets forgotten, at least back there it did. Whether they just truly had forgotten (likely) or just pulled the ladder up behind them so everyone else could pay their dues. Who knows. My hypothesis has always been if you could work out reserve rules that treated reserves as the actual occasional backup, rather than stretched thin and burned out with maxed out RAP and FDPs on every available reserve duty day, reserve could be appealing and probably would go senior. Another thing skywest was so adept at was somehow using you to the max duty each day, but somehow make it that your credit didn’t go over guarantee. So many reserve but also just general contract rules that made it so (limo 2:1 credit rig, only paying you leg credit, 2:1 ready reserve rig, countless ways).

Anyway end of rant. I know reserve is never idyllic, but everyone I’ve talked to echoes spooledup. Has its issues and occasional bad days, but not completely unbearable. I’ll suck it up for a month on reserve in LAS and then hopefully reserve in base isn’t bad starting in April.