I understand that all new pilots begin as a "reserve," meaning that they are on-call and are "used" at the whim of crew scheduling.

Say a reserve pilot wants to work more (i.e. gain more hours and make more money). How can that be accomplished, or do reserves just have to wait until they're needed? Just wondering...

 

It depends on the airline, but you would have to break guarantee to get paid more and as a reserve you would have to bust your butt really hard to break guarantee. And if so, you won't break it by much!

 

This is true at some airlines.

At my carrier, CommutAir, you break guarantee by the day. Anything worth more than 4 hours placed on a reserve day, you are paid the difference (block or better) above your monthly guarantee or reserve line value, whichever is higher. It's not too hard to credit 80-110hrs/month on reserve here if you are flying.... just depends on how productive each day of flying you are assigned is. I love nothing more than to see 6-8hr days because that's extra money in the bank!

Most airlines have a 'bid to fly' list, you can also pick up trips out of 'open time', but this would usually be on days off. Some carriers have an 'aggressive pickup' system where you can drag and drop trips from open time onto your reserve days, but it isn't finalized until like the night before or something. It really depends on the carrier you are working for.

 

There's no rule which says that a junior guy must fly reserve, but that's what he usually gets because all the regular lines are taken by senior guys in the monthly bid. Occasionally, however, some regular lines are so undesirable that nobody wants them, and they "go below" reserve. We used to have one which featured a 3 AM report time. Lines which fly over Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. also go junior.

 

So it's determined on a month-by-month basis? And then I guess one goes from reserve -> relief -> regular line.

I read that if an airline is hiring like crazy at that moment, it's possible to never have to sit reserve because movement is so quick.

 

i know of rsv guys that constantly credit over 140-150 hrs a month. They know how to work the system.

 

I call shenanigans!

At xjt, I am crediting 135 hours this month and only have 8 days off. Even if a reserve is able to fly his max 100 hours, that would be 50 hours in soft time!

 

Bidding an early reserve period (4am or 6am)usually gets you used due to sick calls and commuter policy use. Choosing to work weekend and holidays usually helps too as they are typically undesirable work days. Also it never hurts to call and bug scheduling to if you REALLY want to get abused.

 

Unfortunately it doesn't matter how much of your butt you want to fly off. Scheduling will only send you over guarantee if they feel like it. When things are really tight it happens often but you have no control over it. Unless you want to slip something into pilots' drinks who's trips start at the beginning of your reserve day's.

At ASA you can select the call-me-first option but in my experience makes little to no difference. There is language in our current contract that a reserve pilot may be skipped in the bucket list to be called if the assignment would send them over guarantee.

Reserve at a regional is designed to be worked under for a few months but, at ASA, reserve runs about 4.5 years seniority deep on the senior airplane. You will alway's make much less money on reserve than as a line holder. For me, I lose around $1,200 take home each month that I end up on reserve, but that's because I usually fly a lot when I can because I'm alway's trying to make up for reserve months.

 

you want used more on reserve? just make plans to do other things on your reserve days. guarentee youll fly.