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Reserve at DAL

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nwaredtail

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Posts
622
Can someone give me the gouge on reserve at DAL for domestic.

ie, do they have long call, how long is it, is everyone eligible, how long is short call?

At nwa, long call is bid daily, 12 hour call out (first to get the trip by the way) and there is a ratio on how many get it vs how many are available.

Thanks
 
You can be assigned up to 6 short calls now. The long call is a 12 hour callout. Short call is 2 hour callout (for a 12 hour period). I have yet to figure out how they assign short call. You never know. It does seem that they typically give it to people with the highest available reserve days.
 
Can someone give me the gouge on reserve at DAL for domestic.

ie, do they have long call, how long is it, is everyone eligible, how long is short call?

At nwa, long call is bid daily, 12 hour call out (first to get the trip by the way) and there is a ratio on how many get it vs how many are available.

Thanks

I think there is a couple of threads floating around on this but here is some info for ya.

Everyone starts out on long call (12 hour call out). It's the default. They can reduce you to short call 8 times in a bid period. Although I think it's 6 with the new contract. Although every time I get short call I get assigned a trip before I actually start my short call period. As a 88 ATL FO I pretty much work everyday I'm on call. Last month I flew 92 hours and had 1 day I didn't get called out. Ex. Just finished a four day today. Got assigned short call for tomorrow. Already got a 2 day for tomorrow. This was for 6 on call days. How much you work definitely varies from base and equipment. As 88 NYC B I would maybe fly 30 hours or so a month. Other catagories can be similiar to this but 88 ATL B's are short. Each day you work on reserve gives you a raw score. The more you work the higher the score its. The higher the score the further down you are in your respective bucket (number of days available) to fly. This helps things be more predictable when assigning trips. You can guess on a high percentage whether or not your going to fly. There's a few other odds and ends but that is the jist of it.
 
Sounds pretty similar. Everyone is given a long call line each month (12 hr.) and can be converted to short call (with 12 hr notice) up to six times per month. No specified callout time for short call, just "reasonable." However it is generally assumed to be two hours unless you are in NYC during rush hour or the like.

For long call each pilot is given a RAW (reserve avialibility weighting) score based on how much credit they have already flown in the month. The formula is in the contract--bring your TI-82 graphing calculator to figure it out yourself. Domestically the pilots are grouped into four pots--4 or more days on call, 3 days on call, 2 days on call, 1 day on call. The open time trips are then assigned in each pot based on who has the lowest RAW score.

As I said long call is 12 hours, but usually the trips for the next day are assigned at about 8 am the day before. Short calls are then handed out by around noon. This holds true most of the time unless there is some kind of irregular operations.

Overall a pretty good system that could be made better with a few minor tweaks. My biggest complant is the assignment of short calls. The contract gives no guidance on who gets them besides "scheduler discretion." That can make it kind of hard to plan as a commuter.
 
Reserve as an F/O at DAL = Work every day you are on call until you fill up for the month (does not apply during summer months)

*summer months at DAL = every month except SEP OCT & NOV
 
I've had pretty good luck bidding and getting what I want for short call days.

Delta is working on a PBS system for reserve. That will change the current system.
 
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FYI, when NWA went to computer bidding for reserves, the satisfaction with everyone's schedules went down huge. We tried to cancel it, but of course, NWA said no.
 
I might add: Short call on the ER is for a 24 hour period. Though this can be (and often is) adjusted by the schedulers. For example - short call assigned from 1300 to 1300 the next day. Then later that day scheduling calls to release you from short call at midnight so that they can put you back on short call the next day at 1300.
 
You can be assigned up to 6 short calls now. The long call is a 12 hour callout. Short call is 2 hour callout (for a 12 hour period). I have yet to figure out how they assign short call. You never know. It does seem that they typically give it to people with the highest available reserve days.
Short call, pretty sure, NOT TWO HOURS. It is "readily available". If I am on short call in LAX and get called at 0600...well I be there asap. Scheduling understands that I dont control LA traffic. And in "normal" driving time I live about 1:40 away. At 0600, try about three hours...
 
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FYI, when NWA went to computer bidding for reserves, the satisfaction with everyone's schedules went down huge. We tried to cancel it, but of course, NWA said no.


Well its coming in a couple of months so we'll see how it works. I have a feeling it won't be as nice as the line bid system we now have. I had PBS bidding for reserve in my previous life and it wasn't a good thing for pilots. If they can force the company to require that the PBS system awards a certain number of holidays and weekends to reserves, then it might be OK.
 

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