Reserve Work Rules
 

Just curious about the reserve work rules at different carriers. I figure this could be important since most on reserve right now have probably been there a while, and wont be seeing a line very soon. So whats the good, the bad, and the ugly about your reserve rules?

Reserve at SkyWest is no good...in fact pretty bad and ugly too. I don't think the company is so much to blame as is the Pilot group. Up until recently, rarely did a Pilot sit reserve, period. Work rules where therefore negotiated for the lineholder, not the reserve guy. Now that that has changed, those reserve rules are getting a second look at, and some headway has even been made (notably long-call).

At Compass, reserve guys get used and abused. Reserve average 85-100 credit per month. There are ever some guys stupid enough to accept 9 days on in a row..

I posted many of XJT's work rules here:

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/re...ns-please.html

You can find work rules for other in that thread as well.

It depends on the airline you go to. Some have looooooooonggggggnngnggggg reserves so they have some incentives. Others that operate on lower pilots have basically no rules other than to show up and wait for a call until you hold a line. It's not so bad when you hear stories of pilots that have been on reserve for years, like aa.

Agreed, Im one of the skywest reserves. I havent met anyone yet that claims reserve here is better than their prior company. Long call has a great intent, however crew scheduling generally finds a way to screw it up. On the Bro, long call sees alot of dropped legs with ready reserve attached. 4-5 days a week of that gets old.

How many days a month are they getting off? Atleast the credit is respectable. Its very challenging to make over the 75 hr guarantee at skywest, since were overstaffed and management is in cost cutting mode. 75 hours and no per diem makes for small paychecks. Getting worked like a dog is no fun either though. We get 10 days off in a 30 day cycle, 11 off in a 31 day cycle.

ASA:

11 days off for reserves
Long call (12 hours) and short call (2 hours plus 1 hour to duty in before flight departs)
Reserve bucket system, either call me first (ordered by seniority number), or "no preference" (ordered by credit hours)
Trips are assigned in bucket order (4 day trips to 4 day bucket, etc.) in the following order: long call CMF, long call NP, short call CMF, short call NP

Scheduling is not supposed to break up trips to multiple parts, so if you are long call, you mostly get whole trips, not fragments.

Min day: 3.75, duty rig applies to scheduled and rescheduled reserve trips
Ready reserve is 8 hours/ 4 hrs ready reserve min day guarantee
Can only do 6 ready reserve shifts in a month, only short call can do ready reserve, ready reserves are given to reserve pilots with max days of availability (4, 5 or 6) and min credit hours.

There is a reserve list to view the bucket list for assigning trips and ready reserve, as well as the ability to view every other reserve pilot's schedule.

For the most part scheduling does a respectable job assigning trips. Errors are made occasionally but it's night and day compared to the old contract, and most regional reserve systems.

Sounds just like XJET reserve :)

*note 25-35 of those hours are deadhead (at 75% pay)... in FEB, my deadhead credit was literally equal to half of my actually flown credit.

Colgan Reserve Policy.

It is horrible

No Min Pay!
1 Hour Call out or 1.5 if at a base.
10 days "off"
Reserve built in hard lines as well as reserve lines
No call out based on seniority, just at crew schedulings whim.

Mesaba

1) 1.5 hours call out
2) no long call
3) 3.75 min pay for home reserve, 4 if called out
4) 11 days off
5) 8 hours ready reserve, 4 hours pay
6) 3 periods, morning, mid day and highspeed (CDO)

Mesa:
1) 1.5hr call out or 60min if you're at GJT. 2hrs if youre at JFK I believe.
2) Can reduce your monthly guarantee to get extended call-out (12 or 24hr) but thats only if crew planning wants to give any out that month.
3) No min pay for home reserve.
4) 6, 8 and 10 hour ready reserve periods. Pay is 50% of ready (so 3hr credit for 6hr shift.) Must be released after RR ends unless they extend you to the next higher segment (6 to 8, etc.)
5) Morning, evening and standup reserve times (0500-1700, 1200-2400, 1800-0600) but these can be changed by the company if they really want to.
6) Preference system. Call me First, Call Me Last. Trips are assigned in seniority order from the CMF, then no-preference, then in reverse seniority order in the CML -- except if you're on ready in which case it's company's discretion.
7) 10 days off.
8) Theres supposedly a volunteer list for RR, but other than that it is assigned in reverse seniority order.

wait work rules actually apply to reserve...because as far as I can tell I've been the company's b#$@% for the past few months and I live in base. I can't even imagine commuting to reserve again.

AWAC

-On call for 15 hours with a 2 hour callout (although with the 2 hour callout you're essentially done after 12, just have to answer the phone if they call within the 15)
-9/10 call outs are for a DH to pick up a trip out of base since I'm RDU, but we do get full DH pay
-averaging at least 80 hours a month since going back to reserve in DEC
-12 days off a month if you live in base, if you commute there's not a chance with the 15 hour on call days, and good luck getting released early enough to commute home, or vise versa at the start of a sequence.
-trip and duty rigs apply once assigned a trip 1/2 duty 1/4 trip (saved me on a double DH to pick up a broken plane in ROC and getting stuck there for 2 days. Actual block was only about 3 or 4 hours in 3 days)
-Can't speak for ready reserve since there are none in RDU, but from what I hear it's much better

TSA:

1.5 Hr Call out
No long call reserve
Reserve times typically start at 5:00 am, or 12:00pm
4 hour guarantee on home reserve (only if called) no pay if no call
5 hour guarantee on Airport (ready) reserve, whether called or not

10 hour reserve day @ airport
believe it's a 14 hour reserve day @ home

Typical average was atleast 90 hours a month, while a captain on reserve, I had plenty of 110 hour months, one almost touched 120 hours....I typically only flew in 40-50 hour range though. Lots of deadheads and airport reserves.

Yea that 3.75 is only for the "build up" aka composite lines. If you are straight reserve a day not called is worth 0.... BIG difference. And that 3.75 disappears in Aug when PBS goes live....

Oh yeah, forgot one. Can't be put on ready/airport reserve out of domicile at Mesa. Although they try from time to time.

Mesa has the worst reserve policy, hands down.

It's not the worst and that scares me because it is absolute torture.

I have noticed that "senior" FO's (in quotes because they have been there only 6 months to a year longer than I have, but are 400-500 numbers senior) seem to have an utter lack of respect for us lowly reserves. Most of these people have sat reserve a total of 2 days (after IOE) then went right into a nice line. I have been on reserve well over a year with no end in sight. I gets old getting talked down to, laughed at because of how junior I am, and having the worst QOL ever. There needs to be major reform to our reserve system.

Even 1 day senior is still senior. Seniority is everything and being junior sucks not matter how senior the senior guys are.

That's not right of them...but The Juice is correct, seniority is seniority is seniority, and no system will ever make up for the lack of class shown by a fellow pilot.

What company is this?

Skyw

10 in 30/11 in 31 days off for reserves


Long call 12 hours and short call 2 hours to check in

Reserve bucket system, either call me first (Most senior CF called first), or "no preference" (Most junior called first)


Trips are assigned in bucket order (4 day trips to 4 day bucket, etc.) in the following order: long call CMF, long call NP, short call CMF, short call NP

Min day guarantee of 3.75 only applies if trip was not modified from its PBS version. As soon as CS modifies it, MDG disappears, and you get the credit for the flying only(at least this is how it was explained to me). Duty rig applies to scheduled and rescheduled reserve trips, but time spent on a deadhead does not count towards duty rig(Also how I had it explained to me) Also cancellation pay does not apply to reserves. Not getting calledl equals 0 credit for the day.


Ready reserve depends on base, sometimes it is attached to one leg, and can be anywhere from a few minutes long to upwards of six hours (depends on what mood CS is in) Other bases call you out to sit in the airport for 7:30 with no flight assignments. RR sits in this case are limited to 7:30. RR credits half of your duty time.


There is no limit to amount of ready sits, and whoever is up to be called is who gets it (sucks when you go to call first to try to fly and just end up sitting ready) LCR has to have a flight assignment scheduled in order to be called, it cant just be ready. But fly one leg and then ready is acceptable.


We have what the company calls reserve transparency, most pilots call it reserve translucency. It provides little info on other assignments that have been assigned.


Our reserve lines are built and we choose from what is built for us. You basically end up with the same days off each week. Alternating between two days off a week and three days off a week. CS will not let you trade days with yourself unless youre going from an above min reserve day to a below min reserve day. If both days are above min reserves, you cant trade with yourself. Very frustrating.

AM/PM reserves, AM is generally 4a-4p or 5a-5p, PM is 9a-9p. Long call on call 24 hours a day.

We have an early release program, our policy says if they are above min reserve coverage, they will release in order that requests are received. You request how early you want a release, whether or not they accept is up to CS.

100% DH pay.

CS not allowed to schedule us over 14 hours without our consent. They try though. If delays occur we have to fly to 16 hours.

Wow, that's about 75% of the ASA reserve system, but with all the pilot protections stripped out. Sucks for you guys!

The thing that bothers me the most is when scheduling calls you on your day off all day! They even call me on days I take vacation and leave multiple messages! Been on reserve at SKY for a year now. Don't mind it in general, but you have to be aware of when you do and don't have to answer the phone.

Lakes:
-1 hour, 45 minutes for DEN, to show time/ check-in
-1 hour all other cities
-No long call
-10 days off, with 3 sets of 3 days off, and 3 inviolable days.
-14 hours of reserve per day, most often 0800-2200
-Average reserve pilot doesn't fly much on the FO side, these days. I've heard as low as 15 hours, and as high as 50 hours. Captain's side flies a lot more on reserve.
-Hot reserve is 8 hours. I always did 0800-1600 back when I was on FO reserve.
-Hot reserve normally happens a few days per month on a reserve schedule. I never did it more than once per week, and averaged maybe once or twice per month.
-No reserve built into lines, that I know of.
-75 hour guarantee
-Reserve calls not seniority-based. One scheduler told me it's basically alphabetical order.
-If you're a senior FO, and bid reserve, you probably won't get called much, as they need to consolidate the junior FOs (100 hours in 90 days), or they need to take their checkride again. This comes in handy for upgrade studying.

So I just got my first high speed last night on reserve here at Lakes. It was scheduled for 1453 of duty but apparently they can schedule us up to 15 on high speeds.

Question though...at my last airline if I remember correctly, our duty time started when we started our reserve day. So if we started reserve at 8am and got called out at 8pm, we'd been on duty 12 hours already so a high speed would not have been possible. So is that not how it works here? We're not on duty until our report time? Is it that way at a lot of other places too? I have another high speed on Friday. I start reserve at 10am Friday, fly that night and Saturday morning and get back almost 24 hours after starting reserve on Friday. How is any of this crap legal?

Here is how it's always worked for me in the past; I have a feeling this is what happened to you, as well:
1. You call on reserve at 0800
2. Scheduling notifies you of a high speed reserve assignment, which takes place that same night.
3. Scheduling signs you "Off Duty" at that very moment, to ensure your duty day doesn't exceed 15 hours with the high speed taking place later that night.
4. You start your duty day at the high speed show time.
5. After the high speed, you need, at very least, another 8 hour rest period, before you're back on reserve, or are able to fly another reserve assignment.

If you're Off Duty before the high speed, you're not responsible or liable to scheduling, whatsoever, until your show time. It's just like any other time off, or rest period. If you feel scheduling has been keeping you on duty, before your high speed, speak to one of the union reps. I'm almost sure they can't do this; not legally, or per contract.

Called scheduling to see what their take on it is. They said what they normally do is have you on reserve from 0800-0900 so that they can give you another assignment if things change with the schedule and then you duty off and rest during the day and duty back on at your report time for the high speed. Since my reserve tomorrow starts at 1000, he said he'll just have me off the entire day until the high speed. The learning curve regarding contractual stuff is crazy when you start at a new airline.

Yup they basically ensure a fatigued crewmember to keep from having to staff the airline properly to cover both shifts.... been there done that here at Mesaba too.... Gotta love a 6 am call to be told to go back to sleep so you can show at 7 pm and work all night til 9 am the next day......

Yeah, I can't say I'm too thrilled about it and I really think they should have mentioned that I was off duty tomorrow til my show time in the original notification but hey, this is why we get paid so much....wait...:eek::rolleyes:

I agree, but that's not the point. The point is that these guys act like their crap doesn't stink. God's gift to aviation, etc... They have this "senior" attitude even though they really haven't been doing the airline thing very long. They were lucky enough to get in during the explosive growth period and never sat reserve. I understand how being junior sucks and you are paying your dues, etc, but all I ask is a little respect. These people have no idea what it is like to commute to reserve for over a year, with no end in sight.

One thing to add for the credit on reserve. All those days paid less than 3:45 and any reserve day where you didn't work will get adjusted up to 3:45 if you manage to break guarantee with what you work. If you can manage to get to 75:00 hours your paycheck can suddenly jump to over 90 hours when they go adjust all the days you credited under 3:45 and pay you for reserve days you didn't get called.

They make it very tough to break guarantee, but it can be a nice bonus when you do.

Does vacation and sick pay go toward breaking guarantee at Skywest? Seems to me I heard it does.

Don't worry some of those people are learning what it's like to live reserve... they are just lucky enough to be doing so for Saab Captain pay.

Let's see how well I can explain American Eagle's...

-Ready Reserve varies in time between bases...generally an AM and a PM. (0530-1330, 1400-2200)

-While on ready reserve you get paid per diem. No limit on how many times you can sit ready reserve, each ready reserve shift has its own line. You might have the AM ready reserve all month.

-2 Hr call out. Shifts are usually 0400-1900 or 1000-0100.

-2 hr calls are made starting at the bottom of the list. Junior guys get called first while senior guys will be called last or not at all.

-Reserve proffering system. Lets reserves bid for the trips that are open the following day.

-The whole reserve system is seniority based. There is no bucket, nothing is based on how many hours you've flown.

-Senior guys generally don't fly much. Middle of the list flies about 40 hrs a month and the bottom part of the list usually flies the least.

-Min 11 days off a month.

Haha, I think I know exactly who you are talking about. Memphis based. I'm not gonna say any names... :D

It does. if you get sick, they take 3.75 out of our user time and apply it to our credit. The way the breaking guarantee thing works: The vast majority of the time you get paid what you work, theres no daily guarantee. So one day you might credit 1:50, another day 2:55, the next 5:45, so on and so forth. If at the end of the month your credit is 74.9, you get your guarantee of 75 hours. If your credit is 75:01, you now broke guarantee. So every day you were not called, or were called and used less than 3.75, those days come up to 3.75 credit. I had one month were I started the last day of the month at 73.5 credit, made it over 75, and ended up with 98 credit for the month. Made 25 hours in one day. Ive broken guarantee once in about a year. And I spend most of my time on call first. CS definitely keeps an eye on your credit. Many have been used like crazy for the first 3 weeks of a month, get to around 70 hours, and then hear nothing from CS. Back to the question about sick time going towards breaking guarantee, Im sure you can imagine how may call in "sick" on their last day of RSV for the month when they have 72 hours credited....

I think this would be a huge boost in reserve QOL. For commuters at least, you could attempt to make reserve commutable. Any one else have this? I think this is the first Ive heard it mentioned. Also, anyone get any additional pay for sitting ready? skyw gets 50% credit for time on ready, but this doesnt help if you dont break guarantee. Id almost rather see 25% pay ON TOP of guarantee. That would also help to keep them from putting pilots on ready just because they can.

That sounds like crap... Basically you've just described both types of reserve at once at Mesaba. Straight you get nothing for a day not called no matter what you credit for the month. Build up you get the 3.75 credit for a day not called no matter what you credit for the month.