TriStar_drvr

I'm a new Southwest pilot, currently on reserve in Oakland. Reserve lines are built with 15 days of reserve duty per month. These days of duty are grouped in blocks of three and four days (occasionally two, usually only at the beginning of the month). So a typical schedule would have you on reserve for three or four days, then off for three or four.

The reserve lines are divided between "AMs" and "PMs". This refers to your RAP (reserve availability period). In Oakland this month, the AMs must be available from 0330 to 1730, and the PMs from 1000 to 0300 local time. I guess the PM is a misnomer since 1000 is certainly not PM on my clock.

As posted earlier, you must be contactable during this time, and able to report to the crew lounge within two hours of being called.

Many times, you may be assigned a trip a day prior, however there is one catch. You must still be available during your original RAP, as scheduling can remove you from the trip, or another non-reserve pilot can actually take the trip from you if he is legally able to fly it.

This makes reserve a little more onerous. For example, on Saturday afternoon, I was assigned a two day trip that had a 1600 local report time on Sunday. However, my Saturday RAP continued until 0100 local, and my Sunday RAP began at 1000, so I stayed in OAK (rather than flying home to SoCal) and bought a hotel ($45) for the night. The schedule stood, and I sat around the crewroom for four hours after checking out of the hotel at 1200 waiting for my trip to begin.

Last night I got back from that trip at 2300, one hour after the last flight home had departed. I was tired and thought I'd get a hotel. However the usual pilot commuter hotels were all full (All Star game across the Bay maybe?) so I ended up going to FedEx and catching the 0215 home to ONT. Pulled into my driveway at 0430 this morning.

Anyway, hope this helps. Guys from my class (mid March) are based in OAK, PHX, BWI, and MCO for August. I believe most of the MCO guys will be off reserve then, while BWI and PHX will be at the bottom of the reserve list, and I'll be in OAK, on the edge of holding a blank line (built up with leftover trips).

With projected slowdown of growth, be prepared for possibly staying on reserve longer. Unless you live within two hours of the crew lounge, reserve is not fun at SWA. Of course it's not fun at any airline living out of base, unless you happen to fly for one of the few airlines that have a "long call" report time.

Best of luck in your career choice.

sigtauenus

Wow, thank you, that is exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

When you are initially assigned to a base, call it OAK for example, how long are you there for before you can bid for another base? How long have you been on reserve already that you might have a line in August?

TriStar_drvr

You're welcome. The guys in my class (mid March) were assigned either OAK or MCO. Most new classes are assigned OAK. By July, some were able to get BWI, and for August, PHX. I know some are trying to get to MDW, HOU, and DAL, but no one is senior enough to hold those now.

Base bids come out every month. You bid what you want the first day of class, and wait until you have the seniority to hold it.

Again, good luck on your career.