Bigflya

Need a little help getting the grasp of new life on reserve. My wife is pelting mecontinually for info I do not have. Other then the "first year sucks so deal with it" stuff that we already know I have a few q's in particular about 76ER reserve life. 1) Will scheduling alternate short call and long call days in a 5, 6, or 7 day reserve period making it difficult to commute? 2)What are the penalties if the company calls you during one of your X days or "golden" days? 3)How long until guys are holding a line there? 4) Is it true in the contract that you can only have 8 short call days a bid period? Any more advice? Thanks to all.

Lifeisgood

I need to learn about it too. Thanks for starting the thread.
From what I understand (please correct me):

1. Short days are assigned one day at a time as scheduling needs dictate.
So, you start your days on as long, until the scheduling calls you and change it to short call (at least 10 hours notice req.) From what I've heard often they give you much longer notice.

2. Don't know.

3. I heard as soon as you have 40-50 dudes/chicas below you. Timing - who knows?

4. True. It very much could be less. Guys in my crashpad in ATL have 2-5 short call days/month on average. Based on the scheduling needs.

StripAlert

1. Since you can't be on short call for more than 24 hours per the contract, you can't be assigned back-to-back short calls. However, there is nothing stopping them from releasing you at 0300 to go back on call at 1300 the same day. Typically, though, it skips days. The number of short call pilots is entirely up to crew scheduling discretion, as is the selection of said pilots. The computer spits out a list of eligibles, but the schedulers hand pick the lucky winners. Most short calls are 1300-1300, although apparently, there have been 0500 starts in the recent past as well. Now that the category is beginning to get staffed up to a level where there are actually a surplus of reserve pilots, I wouldn't be surprised to start seeing some variety in the times, as well as a lot more guys on short call every day, which would suck.

I've been told to report for a short call as scheduled, even though I had already been assigned a trip for the following day. I've also done two short calls after my credit was high enough that I couldn't be assigned an ocean crossing, which baffled me, since that's ostensibly what I'm sitting there to cover. In two cases, Skeds let me go in time to catch the last flight home that night (2000). The third time, they made me wait until the morning, but still let me go 5 hours early.

2. If you don't answer the phone, there's no obligation to be contactable or to return the call on an X day. If by "penalties" you mean premium pay, a reserve pilot gets single pay above the 70 hour guarantee for inversely assigned flying done on X days. (Double pay for a regular pilot.)

3. One guy in my October class held a line in February (his first month following OE), but it was a lucky fluke of taking mil leave at exactly the right time (40 guys senior to him didn't). The last guy in the normal sequence of lineholders for Feb was hired in Feb '01. So, I guess the answer to your question is somewhere between zero months and 7 years. There is a lot of expansion and a lot of movement right now. Most guys hired in '07 will probably hold junior lines by the summer, as 50-70 new hires in Nov-Dec went to the ER. Will that continue and apply to March or May or July new hires? I dunno, and the merger situation makes it even more unpredictable. Will guys bid to equipment unlike what's at NWA in the hopes of having a longer fence, or getting a type rating that may prove useful during a furlough, or just picking something that will be more enjoyable for the next 5 years if the movement stops? Or will the senior F/O's camping out at the top of the ER seniority list finally be compelled to bid 88 or 737 captain to get on that list for the merger? Who knows?

4. True. Unless you volunteer, you can't be assigned short call more than 8 times in a bid period.

StripAlert

In my brief experience, next day open time that's in the pot before 0800 GMT (Georgia Mean Time) is usually assigned to long call reserves before noon, usually by 0930. The short call notices go out soon after.

Scoop

They will not call you on your golden day. They should not fly you into a golden day. Regular X days are different - they can call you on an X day and also fly you into an X day. They will comp you with days off later in the month - as a matter of fact if the category is short, guys will bid a reserve line that starts with X days hoping to get called out and start a "rolling X day" schedule in which they are constantly flying on X days and keep pushing their comp days off. I don't know exactly how it works because I have never tried it but I know guys were getting paid for 100 - 125+ hours a month without flying over 80-85 hours. The best way I heard an X day described is that it is a duty day with no obligation - ie. You do not have to answer the phone - but if you do you are obligated to fly. Also if you are flying and get into irregular operations such as wx or maint you can be stuck flying into anything - golden days, x days or even vacation. I believe they can reroute you into X days fairly easily (with comp days later) but I am not sure about what would happen if they tried to reroute you into golden days or even if they could. I rarely fly reserve lines so I don't know.
Scoop

StripAlert

I think the era of "rolling X days" is over for awhile. February is actually staffed up to the reserves required level for the first time since I've been watching the category. Shouldn't be too long until it's like ATL with 50% more reserves available than required. They're going to be able to put enough guys on short call to curtail all the green slips and IA's on X-days.

Jay5150

1. The short call situation is hard to predict. If the category is staffed well like it is right now, you'll definately get them but hard to predict when. Near the end of my reserve stint they were putting me on 24 hour short call from 1300 'til 1300. Then in the late afternoon/early evening, they'd call to say that I was released to rest at something like 0200, and would start another short call the next day at 1300 again.

2. Well it depends on if you answer your phone. First off that can't touch you on your golden days. If they get you and you fly on on x-day that is an inverse assignment (junior manning). The rules/penalties are different for lineholder vs. reserve so we'll just deal with reserve. First, that trip is going to pay you above guarantee and second, you'll get the days paid back. It works like this, here's your schedule for the first 11 days of the month:

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11
...x x x ..............x...x

They call you on the 1st to inverse assign you for the 2nd, or they call you on the second to report that same day and you can make it and agree to do it.

Let's say it's a 3 day worth 17 hours. Now your schedule looks like this:

1..2 3 4.....5...6..7...8..9..10..11
..-flying-...pb.pb.pb..........x....x

You've been "paid back" your 3 days off from the 2nd 3rd and 4th, and are now off the 5th 6th and 7th. In addition your 17 hour trip pays above the guarantee of 70 hours. So even if you don't fly again this month, you'll get paid for 87 hours.

3. That's really hard to say. Thet bottom line holders for Feb are pre 9-11 hires. But only a few numbers junior to them are the new hires. What happens is every time an AE comes out senior guys bid to the ER that were just waiting until they could hold a line to bid it. Not saying that a new hire won't be able to hold a line, especially this summer, but there seems to be a big difference in line holder seniority and reserve seniority in this category. Not very linear if you get my meaning.

3. There is a chart in the contract that spells it out as far as how many short calls they can put you on vs. how many reserve days you have that month, but 8 is the standard.

Jay5150

Well crap, took me so long to type the dang thing, you guys covered it.

Lifeisgood

All,
Thanks for the info!

ERJ135

whats golden days and X days?