Aww, that’s cute!

I’m just a little confused. I’ve asked around quite a bit and can’t get a solid answer. Just chatted up a “senior” FO, on property for a few years. And even he didn’t have a good answer for me. It’s just strange to me, like I’m trying to figure out old calculus questions. Every airline is different but I can’t seem to get a grasp on how it all works.

How to say you’ve never sat reserve at United 👆🏻

Every reserve day does technically start out as a long call. However, the company can convert it to short call/field standby with no limit (and does so 95+% of the time). You get an extra hr of pay on 3rd (and any subsequent) unused short call/field standbys. They can also shorten a normal 14hr short call shift at any point to make you usable for the next day, I.e. you had short call from noon-2am but they call you at 11pm to put you on short call again for the next day at 9am. Short call can also be converted to field standby w/2.5hr notice at any point as well.

Use google as the search function here is no good. It’s been explained too many times to re-explain it.

Just put this in the search window:

reserve rules site: https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/united/

yes, long call is the “default.” It’s a position from where they assign you unpredictable short call (and field standby, don’t forget). There is no limit to the amount of SC/FSB that can be assigned. You get 1 hour above guarantee for every unused SC/FSB starting with your 3rd one. Which also sucks because if you then end up breaking guarantee somehow, it’s like you did that for free. Oh, and at your 5th one, it only counts if they were ASSIGNED. So if you aggressively picked up some short call/FSB just to have some predictability in your life, those don’t count.

they will also assign you a short call, then call to let you off that early so they can assign a field standby at 4am. Or give you a 2am short call, then call right at 2am to let you know you have a 5am show.

reserve at United sucks, and it’s downright abusive if you’re a commuter.
yeah, we need serious movement on our reserve rules.

that is nightmarish