Not really. I was bidding 30% in domicile after 1 year on the bro. I would have been on reserve in every RJ base bidding 95%+. Lineholders on the bro can easily make more than reserves on the RJ on 2nd year pay. I actually took a temporary paycut when I transitioned over to the jet at a year and a half. Once I got a line on the RJ I made more money than I was making on the bro.

 

I was referring to the hourly rate. My apologies for the confusion. Holding a line is way better than reserve no matter how many years you've been at a company. A lot of people stay on the bro until they can hold a line on the jet and I don't blame them at all.

 

I am also 1:15 away from SFO. or 1:16 non commute hours to be exact. You also need to factor in 30 to 40 minutes from the employee parking garage to the aircraft. So for me its super tight as it is. During the commute I may or may not make it. Metering lights and car pool lanes and all that. Heavy rains, mudslides and accidents can also screw me pretty bad. As a new hire I am stressed out about it so I just drive halfway just before the commute and hang somewhere till about 10am, then go home. During the weekend you don't need to do that so bid reserve lines that have reserve days on the weekends. No one wants those anyway except me. It's ironic that everyone was saying 2 hour calls are very rare. My very first reserve call last week was during peak commute for a 2 hour call. In fact they wanted me to get there much sooner. I made it in an hour that day and earned myself a free beer. Had I stayed at my house I would have probably been slightly late.

Some people in my same boat care to varying degrees weather their late or not so they hang at home the whole time. Even sleeping through the start of their reserve period. They usually seem to make it. I for one am just to paranoid as a first year guy on probation. You can also save yourself 20 more minutes by going to short term parking. Employee coupons make it only 13 dollars a day.

You do need your bags packed as if you were going on a trip as long as your reserve period, tie pre tied, uniform hanging up in your vehicle, etc. You need to be out the door in 2 minutes preferably.

 

So in your experience being a little late is not grounds for an immediate SAD?

I figured it was a zero tolerance policy.

 

If you called scheduling and asked them to put you through to the captain, you could tell him / her that you are on the airport shuttle bus on your way to the gate. If the captain had any sense he would call for boarding and get the ATIS, clearance, and have the FMS loaded up so you could depart as soon as you made it to the gate.

At my old company both flight attendants and at least one pilot had to be on board prior to passenger boarding. Not sure about SkyWest.

 

I know that AAG is really cracking down on pilots not showing up on time at the PDX base. The gate agents are or will be emailing AAG the time each crew members arrives.

 

At least the flight attendant.

I just have not been here long enough to get a feel for how trigger happy crew support is to write someone up. I just assume some computer sees you are 1 minute late to check in and it automatically recommends a SAD.

Or maybe its if you make the flight late. Then again the flight probably is already late if they are calling a reserve 2 hours out anyway. It might save me allot of gas money to know these kinds of things.

 

You wake up at 4am for your reserve periods? When I was on reserve I was averaging maybe 1-2 trips per month. My favorite part about reserve was sleeping until 10 and knowing that I just slept through 6 hours of being on reserve.

Crew support monitors those calls. Have CS put you through to the captain and then tell the captain "this is your FO. Call me back at this number XXX-XXX-XXX" and hang up. When the CA calls you back then you tell him you're in the parking lot/in traffic and will be a few minutes late. I definitely wouldn't talk about being late, or talk about anything really on those calls where CS is the middle man.

 

When I was on reserve I had the same request from them, and I was happy to do my best. But that's all I told them - I will do my best to be there as early as possible, with no promises. I'm sure you know that, but you don't want to screw yourself by promising something just because you're trying to help.

 

I wish I lived close enough to sleep through 4am. Problem is that I know I would have a 50/50 on making it on time between 6-9am. That's just not the reliability I want to show anyone and its not my style. Besides I like my wake up shower and hot coffee ready when I get out. Their is definitely no time for that if you get called unless you live in silicon valley or somewhere close.

Like I said some guys around here do that but the numbers and the odds just don't add up reliably enough for me.