Aldo Raine

Did the same.

Some of the 777 FO reserve lists are 60 or more deep. Not much of a chance of getting called right now, and not much of a chance of getting short-call right now either, unless the roll of the dice happens to have you at the top of the wrong silo that day.

JerseySteel

Considering the same question as a non-commuter. Top 20% on NB fleet, would be low to mid 70s on 777. Looking at quality of life on WB reserve vs. senior NB line holder. I liked the comment regarding not being used very often on your FDOs. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

LeeFXDWG

If you go with WB FO and reserve, remember to bid the RDOs in groups of 3 (assuming personal schedule
allows that.). That way when it comes down to you and another pilot for RDO disruption, they get the nod if only 2 RDO vice your 3. The minimal day off disruption aspect in the UPA works for you if you know how to use it.

JurgenKlopp

Right now is not a reflection of normal. The company must have confidence in the PW fix for the vacancies to exist. Not saying to not do it, but don’t take comfort in what you see now. By far the worst thing about global res is only 6 HDO’s. Andy is pretty lucky. Rolling days off occurred all the time pre covid on WB fleets.

bigboeings

I was WB FO for 6 years and only got rolled into days off on reserve one time, on a mechanical in London.. FWIW.

Dave Fitzgerald

It's been said before, I'll say it again.

Wide body reserve from home is a very good deal, however, days off are rolled all the time. You CANNOT count on a day off if it is a regular RDO. Short call from home, rarely gets used. Short call, they reset rest all the time and you roll from one short call to the next--days in a row. As said, now is not normal. But be prepared for this.

WB for commuters, do not do reserve unless you like being away from home. DO NOT count on long call from home. Just when you think you are clear, the crew desk will build a last second short call just for you, and call you the very last moment to give it to you. This may be after hours when you are unable to commute in.

So, to summarize, WB reserve from home--meaning able to do short call from home, can be a very good deal--way different for commuters. Commuters, wait till you can hold a line--even a lousy one. Reserve commuting is not doable for most. I submit that WB reserve from east coast is probably better than west coast. West coast seems to be abused much more across the Pacific than east coast to Europe.

Andy

Probably more a function of BES. I was west coast based; both LAX and SFO at different times.

jumping ship

Living in base, less than an hour from the EWR parking lot. Kids are grown, so specific days off are not a huge requirement. I'm torn between 737 CA (95%) and 777 FO (77%). So likely reserve on both. I think I'd be used a lot on the 737 versus the 777. Not really sure how the pay difference would stack up at these two levels, and also QoL thoughts. Would appreciate some other perspectives, thanks!

F15andMD11

Correct, you will not get called. I’d expect this through the winter. Just way too many FOs, with more coming. You will do 2-3 short calls. Getting the 5 SCs for the extra pay is harder these days, unless you’re aggressive about it. You will go to TK every 90ish days, or when they get to you. Like you mentioned though, you will end up at the top of a silo on a weekend, with bad weather, just when you hoping not to be used. Whamo you just got the newly added SC. Can you get there? I can’t, not with all the current EWR cancellations.
The only hope of returning to near normal, that I can see, is they are cnxing April vacations if you’ve recently came from another BES. Why…no idea. Good luck!😎

fadec

One thing I dislike about global reserve: you can't get 9 day-off blocks like you can with domestic reserve. With global reserve you have a maximum block of 6 HDOs, and the other RDO/FDO blocks of set size cannot be adjacent to any other block of days off during the bid month. This isn't specifically stated in the contract, except for when it says a block it implicitly means there will be work between. Even if you satisfy every other reserve rule, PBS won't build you a bid month with adjacent blocks and you're limited to 6 HDOs max contiguous. You might get it to work across a month boundary though. Since I used to travel a lot on days off I found the block restrictions of global reserve very limiting.