Reserve acknowledgement.
 

Quick question about acknowledging reserve assignments. On your last day off before a block of reserve, advice was given not to answer the phone as that allows for "two way communication" and that you can be assigned a SC or FS earlier than 10:00.

So when they call up at 13:00 on your last day off with a 16:00 SC and you can see a lot of earlier SCs and FSs in open time AND THEY SAY ON YOUR PHONE MESSAGE to "please call the crew desk with acknowledgement", are they baiting you into "making two way communication" so they can switch it to an earlier (before 10:00) SC or FS?

Am I paranoid?

Can they change it to something else?

Can I "acknowledge" it online instead of calling?

When do I have to acknowledge it by?

I've made the mistake before and got an earlier than 10:00 assignment. It was my first month on reserve.

So is there a way to acknowledge on line; CCS?

Do I have to acknowledge by a certain time?

From an MEC update, 10-15-2015:

Because reserves are required to check their schedule on a day off between 1800 and 2359 (20-K-7 as modified by the JIT), this must be accounted for as company-required duty. A one minute duty period will be recorded at midnight of the first day on reserve (interim process pending programming changes that move this time to 1800). Following this one minute of duty, a minimum of 10 hours of rest free from duty is required.
Therefore, a reserve coming off days off is not legal to report for a trip or begin a SC/FSB until 1000 on his first day of reserve unless the crew desk achieves two-way contact (see Important Note below) or the pilot aggressively picks up an assignment.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If the crew desk calls you on your last day off and achieves positive contact (two-way telephone conversation) they can give you an early SC or trip that departs as early as 0600. If such positive contact is achieved, there is no requirement to enter the 1 minute of duty at midnight but contact must be made at least 10 hours prior to the report or SC/FSB start time.

Also, leaving a message is not considered legal contact. So, if they leave a message at any time, that is not adequate. I've had them recently leave a message prior to the legal window, on my day off, and then they think I am on short call the next day. That is not legal notification.

Reserves, no there is no way to acknowledge an assignment. That is supposed to be there, but alas, another thing not implemented.

And no, you are not being paranoid.

So I don't have to call back, and there is no way to acknowledge, yet I am required to check? I am confused.

Am I just expected to show at 10AM the next day?

Not paranoid but know the rules. Do not answer the phone before 1800 and do not call them to acknowledge until after 1800. Trips can be acknowledged on CCS so there no need for contact at all in that case. As Dave said, a voice message is not an assignment, period. It's easy to feel we have to react to them but don't. It is safe to call at or after 1800.

20-K-7-d Assignments made after 1759 on the last day off prior to reserve days shall be placed in the Pilot's schedule and the Company shall notify the Pilot by phone. The assignment shall not require the Pilot to:
20-K-7-d-(1) depart prior to 1300, for a Trip; or
20-K-7-d-(2) begin earlier than 1200, for a Short Call assignment; or
20-K-7-d-(3) report prior to 1200, for a Field Standby assignment.

Many folks don't acknowledge last day off assignments at all which I don't advise. At midnight you go on long call and sometimes they see you haven't acknowledged and can now call at will. I had a 1600 SC that I did not acknowledge and they called at 3am to assign it, waking me up from a deep sleep. I'd rather go to bed knowing that I've acknowledged it and once acknowledged I'm released to the assignment and I can turn off the phone until the SC starts.

This may help a bit too:

Reserve rules for telephone availability:
The following guidelines apply regarding pilots obligations to be phone available when on reserve:
Day Off: No requirement to be phone available. If positive (two-way) contact is made by the crew desk a pilot may be given an assignment. A pilot is required to check their schedule between 1800 and 2359 as explained above and acknowledge any assignment.
Long Call: A pilot is expected to be phone available 24 hours a day while on long call until given an assignment. Once given an assignment a pilot is no longer required to be phone available until report time of the Trip/assignment, however as discussed above, you must check 15 hours prior to departure to make sure your trip was not picked up by a lineholder. If a lineholder picked up your trip you are back on long call and must now be phone available again.
Short Call/Field Standby: A pilot is expected to be phone available for the entire SC/FSB period. At the end of your SC/FSB you revert to long call and remain phone available 24 hours a day.

We are required to acknowledge assignments of any kind. Trips can be acknowldged on CCS, SC/FSB require a callback. Just be careful when you call.

One more question; what is a "Reserve Type" of CDW?

Thanks guys. Crystal clear now.

Last day off. 20-K-7-e A Reserve on his last day off must check his schedule and/or messages sometime from 1800 to 0059 on his last day off. He must acknowledge any assignment entered before 1800 by 0059 on his last day off.

During a long call. 20-I-6-d At 1500 all such assignments shall become firm and a Reserve must check his schedule after 1500 to see if he has received an assignment.

Upon completing a trip. 20-K-1-d After blocking in at the termination of a Trip, a Reserve must check to see if he has been given an assignment or reassignment

Upon completing an FSB. I think. I can't find the reference. There's "5-H-3-g A standby reserve...At the end of each assignment, each Pilot shall be obligated to check if he has been released from his next standby assignment." But this is when they build FSB lines for the month, which they aren't doing.

We do NOT have to check our schedule after a SC. 20-K-6-g If unused, a Short Call Reserve reverts back to Long Call.

This actually applies to everything. After checking for an assignment in all of the above, if nothing is there, we're back on long call if "LSR" is there. It has to show that on the master schedule. Otherwise, we're off with phone availability required.

20-K-1-b During a period of reserve days, the Company may release, or schedule to release, a Reserve into an Off-Duty Period of predetermined length.

Sometimes scheduling forgets to put anything on the schedule. Even long call is required to show as "LSR" with a time frame. Union has fought this one with the company and the current directive is "master schedule is king" so if the schedule is blank, nada, nothing listed, then we don't have to answer phone.

Thanks for all the info guys! It really does help out.

Also, I found out CDW stands for Company Duty Window. I think it acts as a counter for scheduling to remind them that you haven't acknowledged an assignment yet or something to that effect.

Here's another question. I don't normally commute but this came up for me over the holidays. What do you guys do while on LSR while on an airplane. Either commuting in anticipating an assignment or after an assignment and right back on LSR.

Do you change your voicemail stating you are flying and will be there for the trip?

I've heard people have had good luck with calling scheduling and letting them know you're on a plane, ETA, and you'll check in when you land.

I commuted to Houston for about three months. I would fly in for SC assignments and as soon as they ran out I would hop on a plane and go home. Once I got a seat I'd call the crew desk and let them know what flight I was on and when I'd be back on the ground. I think the key was (politely) telling, not asking.

I had this exact question for the Asst. Chief in DCA just last week. The answer is, it's a grey area. There is nowhere in the contract that says you can be out of phone contact while on long-call. It does say you are to be phone contactable 24 hours a day. That being said, the Asst. Chief said many people call scheduling just before getting on a commute and ask "Hi, this is so-and-so. I was wondering if you could make a note on my schedule that I'm going to catch a commute on UAxxxx and will have my phone off for about 2 hours? If you have an assignment please leave a message and I will call you back when I land." I have done this several times and they always say something like, "sure, just be sure you can report in the required 12 hours."

One caveat though. The Asst. Chief also said that from a managers standpoint, he would have to abide by what the contract says if scheduling didn't want to play ball. In other words, you have to be phone contactable 24 hours a day while on long-call. Clear as mud?

Buyer beware when you answer your phone. Nothing wrong with letting it go to voicemail, looking at trip, verifying legality, and then returning phone call. Some at the crew desk might say you have 15 minutes or they will place a missed trip on your schedule. They're flat out wrong. Past practice is what's in play and that is closer to 30 min.

Verifying a sc/fsb assignment on last day off is up to you. First make sure you screen shot at 1801 lcl. If you choose to call back to verify a non flying assignment let the scheduler answer then clearly state your name, employee number and that your are verifying your assignment. Then say goodbye and hang up. Don't leave them time to respond with anything else. You fulfilled your obligation.

Or...20-K-7-e interim measure states " reserves will be considered to have been notified at 2400 for FAR117 unless pilot verifies or is successfully contacted prior to 2400."

Regarding telling crew desk you're out of phone range on long call I've had fairly good luck with this. However, this is scheduler specific. If they did try to ding you I would think reasonable actions could be easily defended in the chief pilots office.

I was sitting long call on TDY in Denver this summer. I went to the Natural History Museum they have there. Turns out there is no cell reception in the building. So when I leave my phone chimes a voice mail. I call scheduling and said that I see I just got an assignment. She says, oh yeah! I called you four hours ago. I'll show you notified, have a nice day!

Point is I guess, they didn't really seem to care. Wouldn't recommend doing it on purpose, and YMMV, but you know, that's that.

As Duke also described it's scheduler specific. Hang up and call back in 15. Hopefully a more amiable scheduler will answer. If not, ask to speak to the crew desk supervisor.

Another reason to acknowledge an assignment at 1800 is that you're now released to the assignment. If not acknowledged then not released, so throughout the evening something worse could pop up they can change your assignment and call you at 0001 when your LSR starts. If you acknowledged the prior assignment they can't call or, at least, you don't have to answer, since you've been released.

OTOH, if a better assignment pops up, you can call them and ask to switch assignments. If they see an advantage to them, they'll do it.

How difficult is it to place a sc/fsb verification in CCS for reserves? When it benefits the company, merging is hard.

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.

Also of note once blocked in at that very moment that is the end of your FDP. Yes you could DH somewhere but you aren't able to accept another flying leg without going into rest. Unless of course their was acknowledgement of updated schedule prior to block in.

Like an ACARS message telling you to check your schedule when you land...

Ask me how I know.

Exactly, but IMHO that is a bit of gray area that should be looked at by the FAA.

An ACARS message is meaningless. It is not a valid method of notification so if that's what it says it goes in the trash. If it's to tell us to check schedule it's also meaningless because UPA requires that at the end of a trip anyway.

Ok, contradictory info on this page. UPA says check schedule but some say FDP ends. Does this mean you can be assigned flying after a rest period or does this mean your day can continue?

I apologize I wrote the above wrong the company can add additional flying per contractual guidelines but all flying must be within the FDP limits. At a previous carrier we had no such requirement to check our schedule so it was considered the end of the FDP.

The reg reads a little strange:

"If the certificate holder does not have an affirmative intent for no further aircraft movement at the conclusion of the flightcrew members last scheduled segment, then the flight crew members FDP has not ended."

So since we have the requirement to check our schedule after our last segment we fall under the above.

At the previous carrier we had no requirement to "check in" after a reserve pairing thus our FDP terminated at that time.

clear as mud?

^^^This!! Never answer the phone. Let it go to VM, check the VM and verify that it is in accordance with the contract. On that note, read the contract when you're on reserve and have nothing else to do and take notes. I've been burned several times in my four short months here and had I known the contract, that wouldn't have happened.

As to not calling scheduling when you don't have to, DON'T DO IT. Out of sight, out of mind.

I learned the finer intricacies of deviating the hard way by calling at the end of my trip. I had been assigned a trip off a 0100 SC (called at 0145). I was paired with a CA from EWR (not my base) and the trip ended there. I was going to deviate and decided to just call them once I was done with the trip. It would be late afternoon on my second to last day of reserve. What could go wrong.....

I walked to the gate for my scheduled DH and called to deviate. I soon found myself on a DH from EWR-SFO (right at my FDP limit), overnight, one leg from SFO-SAN, 27 hr layover in SAN and finally a SAN-SFO with DH home on my day off.

Lesson 1: Had I not called them, I wouldn't have opened myself up to reassignment until completion of my originally scheduled DH. And I would have not had the FDP to make the schlepp across the country. I also wouldn't have presented as an easy target in their time of need.

Lesson 2: By not knowing the contract, I missed out on the reassignment requirement in 20-L-2 for return to my base. They violated 20-L-2-a-(2) in my case. Had I known that, they would have had to return me to my base after the SFO-SAN leg the next day.

So the "they can't violate the contract" statement isn't technically correct. They aren't supposed to violate the contract, but their human too....or just evil...not sure which.

Lesson 3: For the other new folks out there on reserve, here is how to deviate without calling skeds during the trip:

-Once you have the trip assigned and you want to deviate, let them know during the call or call scheduling and get the deviation approved so it shows "Fake" in the schedule before you depart.

-Find your flight you want in employee res (if UAL flight) and book with the "deviation" drop down option. This is still a PS booking.

-Email PSC with the PNR for approval. As long as your schedule says "Fake" they will approve the PNR.

As a reserve you are required to call scheduling after your last flight before deviating to be released. You cannot assume since they allow you to deviate when you call to set up a deviation that you are released to deviate.

I keep seeing reference in this thread to the UPA concerning checking your schedule by 1800 on your last day off for the following day and acknowledging your trip. The UPA NO LONGER APPLIES!

FAR 117.25 (off the top of my head...does). You are NOT required to check your schedule before midnight on your last day off. You are NOT required to acknowledge your schedule before midnight. So....if you check your schedule and do not acknowledge until midnight...the earliest they can schedule you is a 1000 short call. If you fail to acknowledge it....they will call you...after midnight.

Do NOT answer the phone on your last day off. The Crew Desk uses 18 different numbers to contact you. I live in CA and some of them come up as "CA TOLL FREE CALL".

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