When I was on reserve I never answered the phone even when on long or short call. I always listened to the message first.

Be wary about calling them when you're off. I thought about it a few times when I had picked up late report assignments day 1 then later saw a better assignment I wanted. I was afraid to call and ask for those better trips because I was worried they'd say, " no. You can't have that trip. But since I've got you on the phone here's an 0630 departure. Enjoy."

Multiple times I had scheduling call me 6ish pm last day off 10 minutes after an early report trip popped into open time and they wouldn't leave a message. I surmise that early report trips appeared and they were trolling down the list to get some dummy to answer.

 

It was definitely low hanging fruit for this TA. Too bad they didn't take it. A bone thrown to the reserves, no matter how inconsequential, would have fulfilled their charge to the NC to get something for reserves, and garnered a few more votes.

 

I totally agree w this perspective. It is hazardous to talk to them when not required. But they still have to comply with UPA so contacting them regarding assignments made after 1800 they can't assign you earlier than 1200 if you don't waive. If I call them after 1800 to pickup a nicer assignment they can't give me a new assignment earlier than 1200, but they can, as you say, give me a worse assignment "while I've got you on the phone."

 

Use the CCS acknowledgement between 6pm and midnight...

 

I thought the CCS acknowledgement was for trips only and NOT for SCs or FSs.

 

That is correct.

 

It is for trips only. Non-flying reserve assignments don't work. Try it. You have to call.

 

You bet. Learned the hard way this past summer to punch the timer on my phone once i sent the Acars report at end of trip. They have 15 mins to call you. After that, not required to answer. "Trolling" is the exact right word in the fishing sense not the internet sense. Scheduling is just looking for somebody to answer the phone. i answered once by mistake. Dumb.

 

Unless you're referring to a different part of the contract, once blocked in the UPA puts us back on LSR immediately. We are on call and we have to answer the phone from then on, not just for 15 minutes. There is no more post trip release to a rest period. If they call us to assign then we will be released to a rest period prior to the next trip, but there is no more free from duty post trip like there was before.

The caveat of course is if they mistakenly fail to put "LSR" on the master schedule after blockin then, as always, the master schedule is king and we don't have to answer until the next time shown on the master schedule. This is why a screenshot immediately after blockin is highly recommended. If the master shows nothing until the next day's 0001 LSR then, yes, we can ignore calls until then. My last few trips they have become more disciplined about this. They'll actually out LSR on the schedule that overlaps the scheduled blockin by 30 minutes or so, so even I blockin early it shows LSR immediately. Earlier they were waiting until blockin to put LSR on there but would forget. If you got the screenshot before they got it on there then too bad, phone off. Now they preload it.

 

This will be an interesting test for me. Once on my way home, I don't answer the phone till I get home. Till UAL starts paying for my cell phone, I'm not available. It's really too bad after I get in from a trip, my phone battery is run down and I can't call till home anyway.