I'm flying with a relatively new guy and he posed a question to me. While on long call, do you have monitor your position on the list as to the chance of you getting a 12 hour callout for a trip? Huge issue if you're not in driving distance.
Let's say you commute from Florida to DTW. Last flight of night leaves at 8, for example. On longcall, they call you at 8pm for an 8am sign in the next day. First flight next morning doesn't get you there in time. Do you need to commute up the night before based on your position on the list? I've never really commuted or spent much time on RES, but I told him there were prob tons of guys on longcall living outside driving distance.
Can the company do this scenario and do they?

Thanks

You're required to be able to report to the airport 12 hours from the time they contact you when on LC, no matter what time of day they contact you. How you make that happen is up to you. If you can't make sign in you're looking at getting a call from the chief pilot, and that's a very dangerous game to be playing any time, but especially on probation.

Has he not read that "Your position on this list does not alter your obligation" (or something to that effect, stated clearly on icrew). Pretty balsey to risk being out of position these days with the interest the company is putting on this (not to mention ALPA's related cautions).

If one can't report 12 hours after being contacted while on long call, I'd think they are risking their employment with Delta. They are arguably and selfishly (in my own opinion) also weakening our negotiation position about all things reserve. Reserve has gotten pretty good compared to some alternatives... let's not screw it up. Sitting DTW reserve from Florida as a newbie sounds pretty dumb to me.

Okay thanks. To be clear, he interpreted it correctly and I was the one questioning the 12 hour rule. He has chosen not to bid a position that would put him on reserve. Also, he is not on probation and doesn't live in Florida.

Hotels in DTW are some of the cheapest in the system. The Clarion is $57 out the door. Put in yellow slips and such, try to fly as much as you can to get 400 hours and get off probation.

This was by far the worst part of commuting to reserve for me. There was about a five hour window every evening where if I got exactly 12 hours notice for a trip the next day I would have been stuck with no flight options. Luckily I lived within driving distance of base, but it would have been a brutal drive and I dreaded having to make it.

Thankfully I never needed to drive it because the one and only time that I got an assignment like this I was already in base so I just went to the hotel. But this is definitely the one big shortcoming of long call reserve and it forces commuters to make a very difficult choice.

More of a shortcoming of the commuting lifestyle than a shortcoming of long call.

The "commuting lifestyle" is a large and permanent part of the industry. Its not some eccentric irresponsibile rarity.

I didn’t say it was. It comes with inherent downsides, of which this is one.

Of course. As for LC, I'd be in favor of some kind of change to acknowledge the basic reality of mainstream city pair commutes where 12 hours still results in a long commuting blackout period. That's simply common sense.

And while that may be mostly commuter specific, there are many commuter friendly work rules that also benefit those who live in base. More notice, earlier releases and later reports are generally good for everyone. Don't worry, the "locals" who live 3 hours from NYC will always have their choice of 5AM/Midnight stuff.

One of the best changes we've seen in several contracts is the first day 10AM limit for reserves. Beats the snot out of 5AM like it was, even if you still have to commute the day before. And that''s something that benefits everyone.