You can put yourself on the "will fly" list, which I did. I was on reserve for 3 months and flew 60 hours, 95 hours and 76 hours. If you are on the "no preference" list Im sure you would fly less. Once you reach 60 hours in a month on reserve, they do whats called "leveling" where they bypass you if they can and call guys who haven't flown as much.

good deal, I'll be on the "will fly" list for sure

A lot of guys do, especially those who commute in for reserve. No one likes sitting in a crashpad for 4 days with nothing to do. Just don't be a whiny b!tch when you get a trip thats no fun with BPT, LCH and GRK overnights:D

Where do you guys / gals live?

I like Houston. Couldn't a new pilot hold houston right out of training for reserve and FO line?

-LAFF

from what I hear its very possible, it just depends on where they place you. They told us that they spilt your class up (in groups of 3) and send 1 group to each base (CLE, EWR, and IAH). They do let you tell them where you would prefer to go, but you'd don't always get it right out of the gate. It is very much a possibility however. I live up on MI and all I'm interested in is the base where I will sit reserve the shortest.

I moved to Houston when I got hired at XJT. It is no problem to get IAH out of training. I did as well as about half my class. No matter where you get based originally, you can get pretty much any other base within 6 months (usually less).

With the exception of CLE (which no one really wants anyway) reserve is running about the same in EWR as in IAH. CLE tends to run into the years but thats because the people who are there want to be there and never leave. Plus its a MUCH smaller base compared to IAH and EWR. If you are commuting from MI you're probably better of with EWR since its a shorter commute and has more flight options than trying to get to IAH. Like you said, you do get to put the bases in order of preference but that doesn't mean you will get your first choice. Just be patient, sit a couple months reserve like everyone else, and move on with your life. Reserve isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

any chance to fly as much as possible and I'm a happy camper :)