This also depends on the contract. Most airlines are 1:30 call out to show time. Show time generally is 1:00 prior to departure. Colgan/Pinnacle/Mesaba is 1:45 call out but 2:00 in the bigger hubs.

 

I have seen anything from 4-6 on with 2-4 off. 6 on 2 off is not uncommon at regionals.

The call-out ranges from 30 minutes to 24 hours. Most jet regionals are 1-2 hours, some have a 12 hour option (which has tradeoffs).

2 hours from the airport, you might end up doing a daily drive to reserve...find a coffee shop, library, gym, mall, etc that's a little closer to the field and hang out there every day.

At my airline they rarely do the minimum callout (2 hours), they usually give you a little more notice so some folks in your situation just stay home and push the envelope on the 2 hour callout. But that's probably a bad idea on probation.

 

And, for the love of God, please don't wear your uniform in the mall while cruising for High School chicks. Thanks.

 

A lot of stuff depends on the contract. 6 on 1 off is pretty common and can be expected at least once a month where I'm at. Some CBA's prohibit less than 2 days off at a time. So it depends.

From talking to people it seem like 1:30 is a pretty common call out. One place I worked at 1:00 my current place is 1:30 and I've heard of 2:00. If you have a 2:00 call out you need to live closer than 2:00 from the airport. You have to remember that you have to get dressed, drive to the airport and be at certain point (plane, crew room, gate, terminal) whichever is stated in the CBA by that call out time. Its usually a good idea to stay packed all the time so you only have to worry about throwing on the uniform. Also if you decide to leave your house then take your bags and uniform in the car with you just in case you get called so you can save time. I had a great time my first year on reserve. We were pretty well staffed. Reserve guys didn't fly much and there was a good amusement park 30 mins from my airport. A couple of guys from the crashpad all got season passes. We got way more than our moneys worth outta the passes until school got out and the lines got long...So reserve is what you make out of it.

Once again min call out time is rarely used, but it does happen. Most times I get called at least 24 hours out. I do get the "how fast can you get there" calls on home reserve a few times a year though.

Another thing that limits how far away you can sneak away from the airport is the size of the airport. If based at an outstation you can live farther away because time from parking the car to inside the terminal is usually pretty short. If based at a hub it can take quite a while to get from the employee lot to the terminal (30-45 mins at some airports) so that drastically cuts into the distance you can live from the airport.

Anyways good luck. Hope this helps shed some light on what you're getting yourself into. If you have any more questions go ahead and ask.

 

Thank you again for the great responses! Everything everyone is saying makes sense. It would be great to get 24 hr response times, but where I am planning to live, even the 2 hrs wouldn't work.

There are a few people going to class right now that I know, and I am interested in seeing how long they are on reserve. My contact was saying that it was 75 hrs/mo minimum but he heard most were getting 90 hrs/mo.

 

just another opinion, but I commuted to reserve at Comair and life was awful. Now, Im with Compass and live in base. Currently I am over halfway up the list in Detroit and still bid reserve. Life is great, days im not called are just days off and in March, I only had 3 overnights the entire month.

 

Just don't bank on making more. If you do treat it as a bonus. You won't need the extra stress if you can't work more......$.02

 

Does the flying most people get on reserve result in mostly day trips? My bet is its different with every company and bases, so could anyone give specifics on a particular regional along with bases?

 

I would think staffing levels in a base has more to do with it. Yes, you will generally have more nights back in base than if you were a lineholder flying 4 day trips. As to which nights those are no one knows but if you live in base it can be nice spending more time at home. If there is a TON of open time on a regular basis every month, don't plan on not working and don't plan on being home every night on reserve.

However, alternatively I've found myself covering a lot of day trips due to 30 in 7 issues. Those were nice as they were usually an out-and-backs: fly a leg, then deadhead back.

I'd say at the average regional, 50% of your trips assigned on reserve involve an overnight, the other 50% you're spending the night in base.

If your airline doesn't have staffing issues (I don't know of any that do really) then you could really luck out and never fly! (If you're the most senior reserve in base)

Oh and if you want to increase your chances of being home at night, an AM reserve shift helps....a little.

 

So I am new to some airline terms, deadhead is a empty flight without passengers?