Are you really correlating this to being on reserve? Give me a break. Over dramatic much?

 

Whoa, 2.5 months! A real expert! Pass the Kool Aid please, pinch yourself so you know you aren't dreaming. FNG extreme!

 

Time spent on reserve IS an issue if you plan to stick around to upgrade. Commute to reserve as a jr captain... for now long exactly? It is worthy of consideration.

I do want to put out that I think bidding for reserve days off is a BAD, BAD idea. This is one area where someone has some control of their destiny. PBS has been proven to award trips to lineholders out of seniority as it takes care of "coverage dates" and other nonsense. The top few bidding reserve will get what they want, and everyone else...shake up the magic 8 ball and it will determine your line. I say a vehement "NO" to anything that would give up the ability to bid a hard reserve line.. and I say that not having been on reserve for a while now.

Another facet to this is vacation/time off: Having hard reserve lines can help someone to actually get a solid week off, with 3-4 vacation/gold days. Think that will exist if you bid for days off using PBS? Poof.. gone.

 

For comparison at L-XJT

Airport reserve: 4 hrs, paid for 4
Released automatically at 18:00 on last day of reserve
Reserves can pick up trips
U need 2 flights to get you to work, jump seat can count as open seat

Commuting to Reserve sucks a little less. Scheduling was pretty bad, I'm not on reserve anymore, so I don't know. 5 days on max. 2 hr callout.

 

CCB: I hope to meet you in person. You are a deeply flawed individual that needs to make serious changes in your life to make yourself happy. Stop being so negative, nobody requires you to be a pilot, do yourself a favor and leave the profession.

 

Yeah, he did LOTs of TDY, lots, he blamed the TDY for his failing relationship. This info came from his sim partner/ friend.

 

Bla, bla, bla, and you are the poster boy for.......I will stay for various reasons, I will be here long after you quit and return to Sr. Grill cook at Mickey D's. 2.5 months, priceless, and the whole year you have spent slinging gear, makes you the Dr Phil of the airlines.

 

Maybe I'm odd, but I actually bid for a reserve line I'm sure nobody wanted: FR-SA-SU-MO, AM reserve. Given that I am the plug this month in SFO, and I got the first reserve line I bid, I'm guessing nobody else wanted it.

This way, I get T/W/TH off, allowing me to do my other job during the week.

I am dreading the possibility of OBR, though. I'm quite happy to sit reserve at home. Sitting reserve in ORD/MSP/IAH/wherever, not so much. I'm wondering how the OBR loads are spread across the system...sounds like SLC guys do a lot of OBR.

 

Haha, I will stay here at SkyWest until SkyWest does not fit me anymore, and I will move on. When that happens I will say thanks to those who helped me out. It is what it is, I didn't come here expecting life to be perfect. I do what I can and make the best of it and know my job isn't my whole life. I enjoy where I am right now. Why else would I bid max credit and leave the rest to fate? LOL.

 

Sorry speedboat, this a marathon, not a sprint, the luxury of time and experience allows me to watch quietly from the side and enjoy the show. You new guys come here and crow about how totally awesome the job is, and when the tarnish sets in its almost tragic. When your domicile closes, your equipment is shifted around, the howling and whining is epic. Lots of you guys did a month or 2 of reserve, awesome, perfect, doesn't get any better, but when things change it can get real interesting quickly. What are you gonna do when Skywest decides to close down Expressjet and offers DOH to the ExpressJet guys? Your sweet lineholder status just went from weekends off, to permanent reserve in MSP. You say "balderdash", that can't happen(or can it?). Expressjet/ASA has a fragmentation clause in their contract, you have a "gentlemans" agreement. Big things are brewing, and it's getting real interesting very quickly. Check the new hanger in KBOI, pretty tall for RJs, and no SKYW isn't getting wide bodies either.