Reserve flying
 

Hey folks,

Was told by recruiters that a new-hire can hold any base (except for the few senior ones) right out of training and can expect to sit reserve for ~3 months.

I was wondering how much flying can a new-hire expect to do during those months as a reserve? Would they need a crashpad/hotel frequently or would they get assigned most of the time? If they vary per base, I am more interested in LGA and IND (was told LGA has essentially no reserve time).

Thank you,
Z

Well here is my experience.

Hired October 2017, finished ioe the end of January. Indy based, never sat a day of reserve. Never bid and was awarded 16-17 days off continuously each month. When I started bidding for specifics, I started getting 13-14 days off a month. We are never awarded less than 12 days off per month per the contract.

On the FO side, pretty much any base is junior and easy to hold within the first few months besides Miami. Took me 11 months to hold Miami (DOH to start flying out of MIA)

Indy trips start early and finish late so commuting can be difficult. However, crashpads are cheaper in Indy compared to LGA. (Ex. $180 vs $300 per month)

Classmates that got LGA said they were constantly assigned flying and didn’t sit around much.

Keriz

Did you hear any word on EWR from your classmates? Thanks!

Keriz, thanks for the information. So this means you were just awarded MIA? I am assuming MIA is the most senior base?

I start class in August and IND is one of the bases I’m considering while waiting for a spot at IAH. How late do the trips end in IND? I will be commuting to IAH, so I might need to reconsider IND if it’s too late in the evening.

EWR was junior before I started and I originally wanted it before I could hold Miami. However, in my initial bid during training I couldn’t hold it.

It had gone somewhat senior and I was told 6 months of reserve. Again this was back in October, no telling what it is now.

I’ve heard it’s commutable with good trips.

I would check what flights are available between where you live and where you want to be based.

Indy is what’s called an outstation base. This means we need to do the first flight out in the morning to get the pax to the hub base for their connecting flights. We also need to wait to do the last flight out of a hub back to Indy at night.

This means if you’re Indy based you will usually start off your trip with an early morning departure 5am - 8am. Keep in mind you need to be at the gate 45min prior to departure. The last leg of your trip back to Indy is usually a night flight arriving somewhere between 8pm-midnight.

There are some trips that end early, prior to noon and with a little seniority you’ll be able to hold those. In general if you are looking for a commutable base, I would look more at the hub bases(Mia, Dc, Ewr, Ord, Phl...) instead of the outstation bases.

Btw I think some really junior people were awarded IAH, usually new bases go junior for a while then really senior.

Keriz

From what I’m seeing based on the latest posts, is that LGA, CMH, and IND are the only base assignments. Unless I am missing something.

So how should new hires select bases? Should we base (no pun intended) our selection off a wishlist, with our first choice on the top of the list?

This is correct for the 5/15 class, except a few got PIT too, see the "First Officer BASE DROPS- Initial and Monthly " thread for the latest...

Always put your first choice at the top of the list. If it can award you that base, the system will do it. If the system cannot, it goes down your list in order until it can assign you one of the bases on your list. Every month it will try to give you what you want.

Thank you very much!