I'm a Delta new hire, starting indoc on Jan 7th. My background is all military, so I don't understand most of the airline world yet. I'm trying to figure out how I'll bid at indoc (if there's a choice) or on the Feb AE I keep seeing in posts.

As I read all these threads I see a lot of "reserve sucks" -type comments. I'm trying to understand the whole story of why. I'm sure someone out there is having a coronary right now because it should be obvious, but it's not to me.

I'm an AF reservist and will live near that job, so I'll be a commuter. Is being away from home on reserve and flying irregularly much worse than being away from home and holding less-than-ideal, low-seniority lines? When you factor in the pay scales and the possible cooler trip factor of the bigger jets, sitting reserve for a while doesn't seem that heinous (except the sitting around the crashpad part).

Where am I wrong?

 

Being on reserve sucks, but commuting to reserve sucks more. Keep in mind scheduling can (and often does) put you on short call up to eight times a month. This means "promptly available" (a term not technically defined, but two hours seems to be a good starting point). A crash pad will be required in your domicile as a commuter - eight nights a month in a hotel will add up quickly.

There is way too much to discuss in this thread about the reserve system at Delta, but the learning curve is steep. Welcome aboard - you'll catch on quickly.

 

Reserve sucks anywhere. As a commuter your best bet is to bid what you can hold a line on fastest. The worst line is better than the best reserve (if you commute) simply because it is more predictable and you can plan your life a lot better. Good luck with the Big D! Military to airline is a bit of an adjustment but it is totally worth it in my opinion. My mantra is if my commander, my chief pilot and my significant other are all mad at me for spending too much time with the other two, i am spread about right for the month!

 

That has to be the best advice for any married airline pilot with a reserve job.

 

I found it useful to volunteer for short call (any trip, the longer the better). It got me out of the commuter hotel quickly, and often with a much better trip than if I had just waited for scheduling to call me. Sometimes they would even offer me a choice between two or three available trips.

 

I have tried that many times. They keep telling me that my raw value was to high to fly any of the current trips in the pot. I generally wait for someone to call in sick, then I get called.

 

As Jughead wrote, commuting to reserve sucks but if you live in your domicile, sitting a M-Th reserve line was better than holding a Th-M hard line IMHO...at some airlines, if you are senior and bid reserve (especially at an airline with a lot of new hire training going on), you can be home (at least) 27 days a month...man, those were good days!

I commuted to my guard job and found that easier than commuting to my airline gig but that was all pre 9/11, things have def. changed since then...

 

Reserve at Delta is really not that bad...if you live in base. The past three months I've worked 8 days, 10 days, and 10 days. Since I live in base that basically means I had 22 days off, 21 days off, and 21 days off. Yes, that means I only made min guarantee and low per diem, but I can live with that. If I didn't live in base, all that off time would have been spent away from home, and that's when things suck since you're really just wasting your time waiting for them to call you.

Every month they seem to put me on short call about 2-3 times...never even close to the max of 8 times. When sitting on long call, you can look and see exactly how many people are in front of you to be called in first before you get a call. If you have 10 guys in front of you and open time has already been assigned, it's a pretty good bet you probably (not definitely) won't work that day. There are definitely ways to work the system to your advantage and you will pick up on some of those early on.

In my opinion, being on reserve while living in base is probably better than the most junior lines. But what the most junior line does give you is the ability to swap/drop trips and build up a schedule to 80-90 hours so you can make extra money...once off first year pay, 15-20 extra hours can be pretty significant. On reserve, it can be kind of challenging to swap yours days off around.

For quality of life issues, it would be much better to live in base and commute to your reserve duties than the other way around...no matter whether you are on reserve or you are holding a line. I've commuted in the past and believe me, it may seem easy at times, but the times where everything goes to crap and you start missing flights will frustrate the hell out of you.

 

Reserve at most airlines is not desirable.

I commute to reserve. Due to the zones and the commute I end up home 7 days per month. Not much of a home life. If you are single the variety could open up possibilities for a very interesting mix. If you have a wife and kids at home 7 days per month really doesn't cut it.

 

Wow, great post Tantrum, makes me want to pack up the wife and kids after I get hired.