Related to that, once one is able to hold a line, are out-of-base pickups a thing, or are you stuck with whatever is available in your particular base?

 

yes… after 1pm local base time you can call crew desk and pickup a trip at another base. Their are some restrictions like Guam and flying to Asia I heard… but never tried.

 

yep… United is my first and last airline… and I don’t have issues with global reserve… and don’t honestly care if a day off is moved. I average 8-10 days of work over the year… more in summer (14 days?) and less in winter (2-4 days?). You are t going to see hard days off for global fleets next contract… you might want to jump to an airline with reserve rules that fit your needs.

 

Hey, can I ask: I must be missing something.

Everyone says how bad commuting to LCR is, but if I can get there from home within the 13 hours (hopefully true from AUS-EWR or AUS-SFO?), wouldn't I still have some nice extra days at home?

(Note: I've never had LCR, and I believe everyone who says how bad it is, I just want to understand.)

TIA

 

Current UAX non-WO FO here!

As part of my Major Research, I just wanted to get the most current and reliable way to get ORD as soon as possible out of training. Tracking the NH drops, looks like going the 737 route seems to be the quickest?

For reference, I'm expecting to be the 8-ball in class. Would that push me towards WB EWR and away from a vacancy/base trade to ORD?

What about 787 in ORD? What kind of hire date are we seeing on ORD FOs? Thanks!

 

The issue with long call is that there is currently no limits on how many times you can be converted to short call or fsb. I'm sure it differs by BES, but going more than month without ever having a long call day is not uncommon.

 

I’m dumbing this answer down some since a lot of gotchas in the contract… but these guidelines are pretty normal: when you start a string of reserve days you are on Long Call starting at 0001 local base time… they can call or assign you a trip that is 14 hours out. You stay on long call until they assign a flying trip OR give you a short call or field standby (sit at airport for 4 hours). The caveat is that they only need to give you 10 hours notice to start a short call assignment. Short calls are when you have up to 2.5 hours (traffic permitting) to get to the airport. Being on short call and being a commuter sucks… as you stay on a short call assignment for 14 hours… if they don’t use you during this time you revert immediately back to long call. If you live in base you don’t sweat the short calls… carry your phone and stay within 2.5 hours drive time and you’ll be fine. I spend my short calls at the golf course 10 minutes from the airport. I’ve NEVER had a field standby over the 10+ years on a global/international fleet. If you are on a 737/A320 then field standbys are normal ops…

sum this up: commuting to global reserve (or domestic) sucks. Living in base, don’t care if they roll a day/two per month… not so bad.

 

Sorry if I'm being slow to understand, but are you saying people often have all LC days used for something else (SC, FSB, or flight), or are you saying people often have all LC days remain as unused LC?

(I swear, I'm smart in other ways, but I'm sometimes very dense on bidding/seniority/etc for some reason!)

 

"We're the worst, but it works for me. It is what it is, so whatever."

 

Long call isn't really long call here. The only time you can bank on some long call at home is when they overstaff reserve on November and December for the holidays.