Thanks for your input, WesternSkies. The golden handcuffs comment was spot on.
I wish you all the best and hope to see you in the skies.

Thanks for your response. Is it possible to pick up a trip posted by someone else to modify the reserve days? For example if I was scheduled for reserve Wednesday through Sunday, could I pick up a 4 day trip that starts on the Friday and get dropped from the Wednesday and Thursday reserve?

That's theoretically possible but in practice will just about never happen. Like ever.

They will not let you pick up trips from other crew members on your reserve days.

Former skywester here, from what I remember I used to ask myself "will this cause crew support even the most minuscule amount of work or effort?" If the answer was yes, you might as well not even call them.

Yup. I am convinced that they are hard-wired to refuse any pilot request because they think we're trying to pull a fast one, even if anyone with an ounce of logic could see how the pilot's suggestion would actually save the company money, save CS time and effort, and make the pilot happy (ie a win-win for everyone.)

In my entire time here I have gotten them to agree to something I suggested precisely once. I had a 7.5-hr credit standup in about a month's time, and I called up and asked if they'd take it off my schedule. In return I would work the min-credit 4:23 standup they had on New Year's Eve in red open time. It happened to be Dec. 30 when I called. I think they realized that this would save them the mad scramble of trying to find someone to work the trip (nearly impossible), whereas the 7:30 standup would be snapped up immediately if they put it in open time.

Sure, I lost 3 hours of pay but I got a day off I absolutely needed.

Aside from that sort of lopsidedness, though...good luck ever getting CS to agree to anything. I'm convinced that if you don't want to work Christmas, just call them up and beg them to let you work Christmas. They'll say "no" just to spite you. Reverse psychology FTW :D

This.. The only times I've ever successfully negotiated something with CS are the times they call me at home on my days off (sometimes I answer just for entertainment purposes only knowing I can just hang up) and end up doing a last minute standup that somebody didn't show up to in exchange for something on my schedule that I didn't want later in the month as well as 200% pay. Anything less and it's "Sorry no-can-do" and go about my business... where they usually call back in about 20 minutes and mysteriously reconsider.

Anybody got info on IAH?
Is it strictly UAX Ops?
How hard is to get?
CRJ-200/700? E175?

Mesa .

IAH is CRJ700/900 only. It is both UAX and DL connection. It's also shrinking and you'll probably never get based there unless we magically get a big E175 base in IAH. Currently, all those E175s you see there are operated by Mesa and some by Republic. Republic does not have a base there but they might in the future.