On a similar note from a San Diego guy, are most reserve call outs right at two hours? Is there a two hours in normal traffic stipulation?

You get there when you get there. They have to give you two hours notice minimum. If traffic is bad there’s nothing you can do about that. You will not be penalized for that.

"I have the assignment, I'm on my way. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Commit that to memory.

Sometimes crew scheduling calls you and tries to get you to show under two hours. It’s not required to do so but they will try. In my case it was to show early for a deadhead to ATL and then operate the return to SEA. The deadhead was less than two hours from the time they called at 4:00am

Sometimes they call the night before and put you into rest. So you get lots of notice. Other times it’s right at two hours. Sometimes more. I’ve found living within an hour of SEA reduces the stress of being on reserve.


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"You get there when you get there. They have to give you two hours notice minimum. If traffic is bad there’s nothing you can do about that. You will not be penalized for that. "

I'm not sure that's going to work from San Diego during rush hour. I'm sure they'd let slide an honest traffic issue (ie freeway closed, stuck on freeway with no way off), but I only know of a couple guys that sat reserve in SD county, they were in Oceanside, and they said even that was pretty sketchy.

You can do SD to LAX in two hours between 2200 - 0530 if you park in short term princess. Barely. God help you if your not in the parking garage by 0530.

Obviously need to be more careful on probation. After that you could probably try it, and if you get caught take your lumps and change your plan. Might get away with it long enough to get off reserve.

I am an Atlas 767 FO been at Atlas for 4 years now, as you probably heard our situation here at Atlas is going down to S$$T and I think it's time for me to jumpship. I guess what I am looking for is. How is Alaska from a pilot standpoint?

- Overall. The pay is good. There are some work rule updates that need to happen. Morale is fair/bad. Currently going through pilot contract negotiations. All the bad that comes with that.


has it been good for the most?

See above.

I live in SD to LAX base would be ideal for me how junior is the base?

Things are changing. The seniority list is growing. In my class spring 2018, LAX was the jr base. But this was a 737 class. Currently SFO Bus seems to be jr but I don’t know the real world class numbers as of late.


I want to know what's the deal with reserve and how long should I expect to sit on reserve?

I sat on reserve for 8 months. Hired spring of last year. My gut feeling is that this number will increase for new hires. This dynamic will increase until our fleet plan is formalized. The MAX’s not being delivered undoubtedly slowed things on the 737 side and my personal impression of the bus side was that it was stagnant.

Also, while on reserve is it possible to break guarantee?


It’s possible but extremely difficult. I didn’t manage it on my 8 months of reserve. Also keep in mind it is my personal opinion that working on ones days off hurts our contract negotiation. Although picking up trips is still flying the contract.

Any inside info to help me make a decision is greatly appreciated.






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I’ve known of a few guys that lived in the greater Seattle area and sat PDX rsv. They would drive to a coffee shop that was closer to PDX and wait there. Not how I would want to spend my days but people get creative when they have to make something work. The only language I see regarding the 2 hr call out is along the lines of, “the pilot will be available to report with 2 hrs notice”. I can’t find anything regarding living a certain distance from the airport or driving in reasonable traffic etc. Leaves it pretty open ended. The only thing a pilot should be concerned with is that crew scheduling has abided by the contract and given you the 2 hr notice. As stated above, “I’m aware of the assignment and will be there as soon as I can.”

Breaking guarantee is sorta base dependent. I hear from guys in LAX that they barely fly and guys in SEA that they are in the mid to upper 80’s every month. The nice thing is that our short call guarantee is 79 hrs (am I right that Atlas is 65??) and once you’ve hit it you can call out sick and are not charged sick time.

Last year during the summer, which is arguably our busiest time of year I never broke guarantee on reserve


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Thank you all for the responses... All info is greatly appreciated. I’m living near Oceanside, so it’s not San Diego proper. Seems like it may be doable. Again, thank you all for taking the time to respond.