WB Reserve
01-06-2022 | 09:31 AM
#61
Moderator
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 3,202
Likes: 0
From: MEC Chairman, Snack Basket Committee
You can vdo any off day... doing it on the front end of a trip gives you the add pay for the whole trip including reserve days. But you can vdo any random off day.
01-06-2022 | 11:42 AM
#62
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 963
Likes: 0
The gouge is that you wait 15 minutes past block-in on your last day then submit VDO. I can't remember why that's optimal though.
01-06-2022 | 02:16 PM
#63
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Feb 2018
Posts: 162
Likes: 0
If I recall correctly, if you have a vdo at the end of a block of rsv days they can fly into a vdo day without the same protections of flying you into a day off on rsv. It essentially turns into another fdo, I believe you get the 50% add pay only for the one vdo they fly you into.
01-06-2022 | 07:57 PM
#65
New Hire
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
777/787 Reserve life
Can someone speak to EWR 777/787 reserve life, seeing as they are offering it to new hires in training now. Especially if there becomes a scenario where 1 or 2 must go to the fleet. What is the reserve life going to be like for someone living in-base at EWR on the 777 or 787. With the expectation being that you would be at the bottom of the list for upwards of 10 years, what would the schedule look like or monthly usage. Thanks for the input much appreciated.
01-07-2022 | 02:35 AM
#66
Line Holder
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,449
Likes: 6
This. If you are sitting VDO you are not required to answer your phone or accept a trip when they call- they just offer it to you & you have the option to pass or play. If you are on a trip that touches a VDO (ex: working a 4 day Mon-Thu w/ VDO on Fri), they can call you at any point during that trip & either assign you work on Fri, or just roll you into a 5 day working block so you no longer get to go home on Thu- all without your consent. Basically, waiting until you are off duty to convert to VDO preserves the element of choice for you.
01-07-2022 | 06:51 AM
#67
Line Holder
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,069
Likes: 25
Can someone speak to EWR 777/787 reserve life, seeing as they are offering it to new hires in training now. Especially if there becomes a scenario where 1 or 2 must go to the fleet. What is the reserve life going to be like for someone living in-base at EWR on the 777 or 787. With the expectation being that you would be at the bottom of the list for upwards of 10 years, what would the schedule look like or monthly usage. Thanks for the input much appreciated.
Flew the 777 as FO for a number of years. 1 full year on reserve. the airplane is awesome, the trips (pre-covid) were extremely productive. I was brought up in P-3s in the Navy so I was well trained in being able to sleep in crappy conditions onboard an aircraft. I live in domicile.
So, with all of those things I thoroughly enjoyed my time as an FO on the fleet. I tell people it is crack cocaine...you know it is bad for you but you keep doing it anyway. That is because you can end up with so many days off. However, If you can't sleep on the airplane your life is going to be miserable even with the extra time off. Can't think of many worse things than being home but not being present because you are so jet lagged/fatigued, and about the time you recover it is time to do it again. I never had this problem, but for those that did, they couldn't get off the airplane fast enough.
If you live in or are willing to move within 2 hours and 30 minutes of the SFO/EWR area then it wouldn't be a horrible QOL. Short Call reserve allows 2+30 of "normal drive time" for a report, so that is where that time/distance comes from. By living local, you can pick up Short call assignments and end up flying very little. If you want to fly, we have aggressive pickup for trips that are open at 11am the day prior to their departure. So, if you have 5 days of reserve starting on Friday, then at 11am on Thursday you can pick up and 4 day or 5 day trip that is open on Friday. During my time on reserve I was able to use both SC and trip pick up to make life pretty good. If you didn't fly the first block of days on, then pretty much decided that was going to be a min guarantee month and just picked up SC assignments for the rest. If you did get a trip in your first block of days on (or two) then you could pickup trips during the rest of the month (hopefully) and break guarantee. Where the commuting part really begins to suck is that when you don't get a trip assigned (or aren't able to pick one up) you will most likely get a Short Call. So, as a commuter you would have to commute into the domicile to sit around at the crash pad/hotel. Then when you don't get used during your Short Call window (14 hours long) they will call you towards the end and assign you another short call tomorrow... lather...rinse...repeat. Again if you are local this can mean many more days at home than a line holder, but many of those days you won't know for sure that you will be home as you will be on call. Not such a bad gig as a local, horrible gig as a commuter.
Then you have all of the actual flying part of the job. As a new hire, it would be massively better to be on the 737,A320, or 756 to get exposed to United. The 777/787 is awesome, but it is an entirely different airline experience. You will rarely have delays/reassignments which is nice, but you will also likely only be touching the controls at cruise (almost always be the IRO) and then every 90 days you will get to go reset your landings in the sim. Your piloting skills will suffer and your United operations knowledge will suffer. This will become evident when you take your Captain upgrade on the 737 or A320.
So, if you live in SFO or EWR, I could see considering it, but I would still recommend against it if a different aircraft type was available in your base.
If you do not live in SFO or EWR, I would choose any other plane at any base before taking it.
If you get assigned the 777 or 787 out of new hire, you will need to have a very serious conversation with your spouse (if you have one) about moving. I don't say this lightly as I know that moving is a huge deal for most if not all of us, but in this case your life is going to be ugly as a probationary pilot commuting to WB reserve. If you screw it up or are out of position and an Intl trip cancels it is a much bigger deal than an ORD-DSM leg having to be re-assigned to somebody else!! Not to mention that you will be going back to the sim probably two extra times your probationary year.
01-08-2022 | 07:49 AM
#69
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,112
Likes: 0
From: SFO Guppy CA
On Global Reserve, you only have six HDOs (Holy/Hard Days Off). All other days off are RDOs or an FDO. The FDO can be rolled for any trip, but only for that day off and then they have to give you another day off later in the bid. The RDOs can ONLY be rolled for a Global Trip. Again, they have to give you days off later in the bid to compensate for using you on your original day off.
01-08-2022 | 09:15 AM
#70
On Reserve
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 73
Likes: 2
From: 777 FO
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
