Newbie JA Question
 

Ok... so from what I understand and bear with me here, because i often understand incorrectly, Pretty much every airline has a junior assign policy, which basically means that they can call you on your day off and say "Congratulations you are flying today" So I have a couple of questions about all of this... and if I could get some input to how this is handled at your regional I would much appreciate it:

1. How often can they do this to you? I have heard rumors that at Mesaba for example you can only be JA'ed 4 times a year

2. What kind of time can you expect them to allow you to show up at the airport?

3. How does this work if your commuting to work? i.e. I live a base X but work at base Y, will they JA you out of base X even though your official base is Y? Or will they JA you out of base X, and expect you to be there within a certain amount of time? What about if you live away from base I.e. i'm based at MSP but live in FAR.

4. I have heard rumors that if you don't answer your phone they will move on to the next person... is this true or is it like reserve: i.e. once you're called you can't get off the hook without getting a no call/noshow.

5. What if you've done something immediately prior to the phone call that would disqualify you from operating an a/c ... i.e. I'm at my neighbors barbecue and have had a beer or two?

So lots of questions... i know, but thanks in advance for helping a new kid out.

Be smart. Dont answer your phone and you will never have to be worried about being drafted. You are not required to be contactable on your day off.

1. Various companies have various policies. Mesa will do it every day if they can contact you, SKW will never do it.

2. If it's a true junior assignment, and not a reserve call out, they would have to allow you however long you needed...(hint, hint)

3. They may have a policy that allows them to JA you, but it would be infeasible to have a policy on report time since many folks commute. However, if you tell them you're in FAR, they might deadhead you on the next flight out if they really needed you...

4. If you are not on reserve, you do not have to answer your phone EVER. Not your cell, not your home phone. Train your family to tell any unknown caller that you are not in. Let all company or unknown calls roll to VM...listen to the VM and decide whether you wat to call them.

5. If you're not on reserve, you can drink. However the problem with telling them that is that they might just schedule for something in 8 hours...best not to even talk to them.

Bottom line, don't answer the phone if you're not on reserve. If you talk to them with some excuse why you can't come to work (beer, out-of-town) they might find a work-around...

Hint: When on reserve, you don't have to answer your phone either, you just have to call them back. ALWAYS let it roll, then listen to the VM. You will be allowed 10-15 minutes to call them back...use the full allotted time and hopefully by then some other sucker will already be on his way to the airport. Assuming you don't want to fly.

Thank you rickair... excellent information

We dont have JA at RAH.....thank God. At Mesa most folks I knew just refused it and hung up the phone. If you answer your phone on your days off you are nuts. Like the other guy said they can't touch you on days off no matter what.

You can never be JA'ed when you either A) don't answer the phone or B) JUST opened a beer