It takes some planing and depends on the base you are in. The sweet spot is 3-5 airplane bases that don’t have huge seasonal fluctuations. This makes picking open time up during SAP easier in the slow months. Another benefit (or downside) is that all leftover RAPs and pairings are offered to line holders after initial line
awards for 2 days on a first come, first serve basis, before publishing composite lines. This makes it easy for a line holder with Thursday afternoons off to pick up to 100hrs.

the other side of planing is breaking up your 2-3 training events and 4 weeks of vacation up across the year so you don’t run into the 100hr FAR buffer.

Another new bonus is we can now pick up VFNs (200% pay) on vacation (we cant pick up open time or work on vacation normally)

It depends on what trips you can hold. Our day trips range in credit from less than 3 hours to more than 8. Obviously, at 3 hours a day, you are not getting to 100 hours. At 5 hours a day, you are getting 10-11 days off at 100 hours.


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Our contract has next to no opportunity for soft time pay, and the problem is exacerbated by the fact that DH only pays 50%. Its the opposite of soft time. Hard time is too soft a word. Call it "impenetrable time." This really affects a lot of the reserve pilots in FL since they're sometimes on 3-4 hour surface DH's around the state. It also affects some of the pilots who end up having to work the heavy crewed flights like redeyes or GRR LAX. Fortunately we have a 2:1 duty rig. Union recently won a grievance that will slightly help soft pay on some charter trips, but this DH pay gap is still an issue. I don't even know if any regional airlines are still paying 50% DH pay.

On the plus side our time at work is generally very low given all day trips. Best bet as a junior line holder is to try and swap whatever cruddy trips you have for better open time trips. There is plenty of open time that pops up during the busy times of the year.

One thing we have that I like is the ability to drop a trip (granted there is not the drop potential Spirit has) and cover it with sick time. This still qualifies for the 30% premium for time over 81 hours so is a good way to cash out sick time for a premium if you're over 81 hours. I'm sure other airlines probably have better rules for this (I know Spirit is better about having drops), but its probably the best source of soft time I have found for myself since picking up reserve days and hoping you don't get called isn't soft time.

PSA still pays 50% DH. And it’s common to get 3+ DHs on a trip awarded while on reserve.

I appreciate the discussion ladies and gents. This is all good info to learn as an FNG.

Just started the interview process and want to be based in AVL.. any idea how long it takes to get based there? (I know it’s tough to tell with Covid stopping hiring)

also what do the trips out of AVL look like? All day turns or are there any overnights?

Your timing for AVL could be pretty good. There are some vacancies. I don't think they have overnights. But maybe someone else can comment on the flying as a whole. I think they have a lot of four leg days.

Could anyone share their typical schedule out of DSM? Also is the 4ish year upgrade on the website accurate for DSM?

No one has had a schedule in DSM. July is the 1st month, and the schedules won't post till tomorrow.

5.9 average block, 84% single turns. Honestly, third best to LAX and GRR.

how is ABE with avg block and typical schedule?