It's what you make it out to be. In the beginning it's going to be a special kind of hell being on reserve unless you go somewhere where guys are getting build up lines from day one. No one will admit that they are fatigued while flying but I'm not smiling from ear to ear the whole flight. The flying depends on where you're going into. I appreciate the flying and the views simply because I know I could be sitting in a boring office somewhere like my friends complaining about it's Monday. Every place has its bad apples unfortunately but where I am most guys are great. Being easy to get along with also helps. There are CA's and FO's that unfortunately aren't easy to get along with. On my days off I'm mostly at home working on bachelors homework when my gf is working or at the gym. Being normal basically. I commute to DTW from the west coast so when I get home I'm hibernating for a day. Exploring a city depends on how much time you have there. Last month I was able to rent a car in JAX and drive over to Atlantic beach 3 days after the hurricane. But there are some overnights where I said I'd have dinner with the crew after a nap and slept right through dinner. Legs depend on what you're flying (sometimes). I'm on the 900 at my company now and most of the time it's 2 or 3 legs a day. Sometimes it's more. It honestly all depends on different variables. Everyone's experience is different. Some guys will hate it and some love it. I enjoy it and just take things for what they are. This keeps me sane especially when commuting. But I am looking forward to the day I can drive to work.

Thank you all for the replies so far. Great perspectives.

When some of you mention some crews and co-workers who are difficult to get along with, what traits do they exhibit? What makes other colleagues difficult or hard to get along with? I generally like most people and consider myself easy going and easy to get along with. I'm just trying to gauge if there are any recurring traits of people in the industry that are unfavorable.

Some people don't realize that it's never appropriate to talk to someone who is essentially a stranger about their politics or religion.

As an FO the biggest issues I had with captains, where those who had authority issues (treated my like a baby, micromanaged, acted like pricks), didn't care for my input, or just generally didn't care what I had to say about anything. There are some a-holes out there, but it's been my experience they are few and far between. For the most part the people I don't want to fly with again are people that had a personality I just didn't mesh with.

These are things that I try avoid. With everything going on politics seems unavoidable but I usually nod my head and if its something I don't agree with I don't say anything. This usually gets them to change the subject or just be quiet. I'm not big on political or religious debates anyway. There are guys too that think there was is king when in reality there are many different ways to skin a cat. As long as its safe and legal i'm fine.

Depends on the week/month I build for myself. Sometimes I have 7-8 days off in a row, go work for 4 or 5 days, then off again for a week. Then work another 4 day and a 3 day at the end of the month. During those days off, sometimes my wife and I travel and other times we just take it easy around the house and go to the beach.

Other months, where I decide to work more (like this month), it's your typical 4 days on, 2-4 days off routine. All of my trips are commutable on both ends and usually credit pretty decent (18-22 hours).

The answer to your question will vary greatly depending on who you ask and what airline they work for.

Typically you bid for a start time for the entire month. So let's say you get 6AM. You go on call at 6AM and would have to be at the airport within 2 hours if you were to get called. Since you aren't guaranteed to catch a flight into your domicile during that 2 hours you have to fly in the night before. So now you're sitting in a crash pad or hotel waiting to get called. You're frequently on call for 4 to 6 days in a row. You may not get called. Now you're away from home and paying for a crash pad or hotel.


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Would it be accurate to conclude the following?:
-Commuting on reserve is hell.
-Yet, being a reserve while living at base city is borderline heavenly. You can go about normal life until you get called with the only restriction being that you need to be sober.

Hypothetically: If I live near DEN, and got hired as a FO at Skywest (or any other legitimate regional with a base in DEN), how long do you think it would take me to build up enough seniority to get based in DEN? In other words, how long do you think I would need to tolerate a hellish commuting situation before I got based in DEN?

For seven months right now at Skywest. Well, more like four or so after you finish IOE. Four months of commuting to reserve still takes a toll on one though.

I'll add, if you're on the fence seniority is everything. The sooner you jump in, the quicker you are home based.

For sure! I wouldn't mind living in base. I honestly hate moving and have a house. You almost have to move before you start training. Anyways, I'm kind of banking on the mainline job where I live and hope to just build my family here and not have to relocate them again when they're in middle school and or high school.. So I guess I'm a small sacrifice for the end goal. I guess our commuter policy and hotels are nice to have. Luckily haven't had to use either.

What's IOE schedule like? Is it a set and predictable schedule? Are you based out of one place?