Maybe a OO guy or gal can shed some light on this for the EV rollout of Sked+.

I just read the user manual and it says reserves can "view only." If that is the case, how can reserves swap off days?

 

I have never sat reserve but why can't you just call Crew Support. I have several reserve friends who call and if we are short staffed or overstaffed on certain days then CS will allow then to trade Res. Days. Unfortunately SchedPlus+ does not have the ability to trade reserve schedules, just see when you’re below adequate reserve levels.

 

yeah, sked+ is apparently a great product for lineholders, but nothing for reserves. you can't use it to swap days off, and i can't speak for how they'll treat you, but our people do not ever want to swap days off for us. we have to actually find a reserve person with the day off that we want and get them to agree to swap with us, and then scheduling will do it.

 

Actually, being on reserve most of my time here at SKW, I have found Sked+ to be VERY useful. Some examples of how it can work for reserves too:
1) I look to see what days have red arrows over them (at or under min staffing) and what don't. They have always let me swap reserve days from one that doesn't have a red arrow to one that does. I do it at least once a month, sometimes more, and have only been turned down once. Just make sure you talk to a supervisor and ask nicely. One month I started with Fri-Sat off and was able to swap it so all but one block of days off were Sat-Sun.
2) You can pick up trips from open time on your days off and they will pay over your guarantee. You can even pick up whole and split pairings from other crewmembers, again as long as it's on your days off. You just need to call scheduling to do it. Never been turned down for this, but you can't ask for anything that will break FARs (ie flying 7 days in a row). So if you want to make extra money on reserve, it's pretty much the only way to do right now, as no one is breaking guarantee (the other would be being junior manned).

The one month I did have a line, Sked+ was amazing, it let me fix my schedule to just what I wanted, even though I had the most junior line in domicile. All in all, I'm a huge fan of if.

 

Speaking of reserve at ASA, if we are so fat on pilots why are there so few reserve lines with weekends off for Sept?

 

Because typically most of the open time touches a weekend. Therefore, they need more reserves available to fly those trips.

 

10 of the 14 had atleast a portion or all of the weekend off.

 

4 had the entire weekend off and don't seem to have been proportionately awarded. Maybe I'll prove myself wrong if I actually take the time to check on FLICA. Can't help but approach everything with an air of pessimism, reserve sucks! And yes, I know everything could be much worse

 

Is it realistic to expect scheduling to move days off around for us if we offer to cover days of minimum coverage? Or do you think after every pilot on reserve starts calling in they are going to get annoyed?

 

Find one person in CS who has helped you, and then become friends with him or her. When they call be as polite as possible and tell them that it's all about helping each other out. Basically you're working them into a position where they will do almost anything for you. I have done this at SKW and she has helped me when I was in many a-pinches but I have helped her as well. I know that if I need something and she can't do it then it can't be done.

So the next time they call start a conversation about their day and if they seem to be a good person and you can easily communicate with them, ask for their extension and speed dial it in your phone. It may not benefit you right now but months down the road you’d be amazed at what it can do for you.

Take my advice for what it's worth; but its made me a lot of money, helped me get a lot of time off and saved my a$$ several times.