ASA Reserve

[avpro91]

Anyone care to shed some light on what life on reserve at ASA is like. # of days off, call out time, ready reserve? time on reserve, commuting, ect?

 

[Snapperhead]

At ASA you get 10 days off on reserve, with a 2 hr call out. There is no ready reserve, commuter clause, or long call/short call. My guess is about 1 1/2 to 2 yrs on reserve.
I've been at ASA for 2 yrs 4 months. Started holding a nap/stand-up line on the CR7 4 months ago. Going back on reserve next month until (if) we get more CR7s. If I was on the CR2 I'd be able to hold 4 day trips with 3 days off in between.
Hope that helps. Later.

 

[Smacktard]

At ASA you get 10 days off on reserve, with a 2 hr call out. There is no ready reserve, commuter clause, or long call/short call. My guess is about 1 1/2 to 2 yrs on reserve.
I've been at ASA for 2 yrs 4 months. Started holding a nap/stand-up line on the CR7 4 months ago. Going back on reserve next month until (if) we get more CR7s. If I was on the CR2 I'd be able to hold 4 day trips with 3 days off in between.
Hope that helps. Later.

I've been here 6 months and got a relief line for February. Results may vary.

 

[sweptback]

I've been here 6 months and got a relief line for February. Results may vary.

There are 72 reserve lines published in ATL CRJ FO, for some hard numbers. I count 66 awarded on the current bid results.

Not nearly as many for captains though (46 published). Don't know what's up with that.

 

[ifly4food]

ASA may have one of the worst reserve "systems" in the industry.

Expect to be abused and violated in every sense of the word. You will have no life. You will fly 5on/2off schedules. You are only entitled to 4 inviolate days a month, expect all other days off to be cancelled, moved, and postponed. You will have no more than 10 days off. You must become a contract and FAR expert because scheduling WILL try to push you as far as they can with illegal assignments. They will call you outside your on call period, repeatedly, then lecture you for not answering when you finally pick up, then short call you for a trip. You will become an expert on maintenance ferry flights. You will have I-75 between ATL and Macon memorized from all of the road trips to pick up or drop off a broken airplane. You will be "extended" at the end of your duty period. You will finish a 4 day trip, then learn you have been added for another two day starting immediately, then realize you don't have any clean underwear. You will get a "no-show" from a chief pilot because your cell phone was out of service and you didn't return a call in 15 minutes. You will fly to Montreal, Grand Rapids, and South Bend in the winter. You will not know this in advance and won't even have a coat with you. You will be assigned two standups, followed by a "reduced rest" overnight, then two more standups. You will be so tired that you hallucinate on the drive home, only to get short called again that night. You will fly with the captains all of the senior FOs refused to fly with. Your significant other will threaten to leave you, your bank account will languish, and your mother will wonder why you don't call her anymore. In short, YOUR LIFE WILL SUCK.

And all of this for $19 an hour, 18K a year. Welcome to ASA.

 

[Mmmmmm Burritos]

Good grief, don't let this guy scare you. I thought it would be bad when I started and the schedulers have been nothing but professional to me. I haven't had any of the things happen that this guy has, except for the flying with captains that senior FO's don't want to fly with. THAT is very true, but that's not the company doing that to you, that's seniority.


If you are nice to scheduling and don't whine every time they call you, pick up the phone when they call, and not be an a$$ to them, then they will be nice back. I am sure they have a naughty and nice list of people, just try to get on the nice list. By the way there is no 15 minute callback rule, it is actually a "reasonable amount of time" as quoted from a chief pilot. The common practice is 15 min though so I wouldnt push it past that.

I know someone who's only been here 6 months and is off reserve. That's actually only 3 months of being on reserve with 2 months training and 1 month of IOE and having a line built for you to gain experience.

Of course, I spent my reserve in DFW.

 

[73belair]

KNOW YOUR CONTRACT! Reserve here is a 50/50 crap shoot. Some months you won't work, other months you will work you a$$ off. Sheduling will push the limits of legality and even do things that will violate FARs as well as contract. Watch out. That being said for the most part it goes well, but its those bad time you REALLY remember.

 

[bailout]

I think that when we short on F/Os a few months ago, the resreves defintely got abused, but now that we have @ 70 guys on reserve, i dont think it will be bad

 

[avpro91]

F4F- you always seem to have something negative to say about ASA. Whats the deal, why are you so unhappy there?

Burrito- Thanks for the info, coming from on-demand 135, with no schedule, reserve sounds like it should be easy compared to my current QOL, and shouldnt last forever.

 

[Smacktard]

Good grief, don't let this guy scare you. I thought it would be bad when I started and the schedulers have been nothing but professional to me. I haven't had any of the things happen that this guy has, except for the flying with captains that senior FO's don't want to fly with. THAT is very true, but that's not the company doing that to you, that's seniority.

If you are nice to scheduling and don't whine every time they call you, pick up the phone when they call, and not be an a$$ to them, then they will be nice back. I am sure they have a naughty and nice list of people, just try to get on the nice list. By the way there is no 15 minute callback rule, it is actually a "reasonable amount of time" as quoted from a chief pilot. The common practice is 15 min though so I wouldnt push it past that.

I'll second that. Of course the truth always lies somewhere in between. I have had scheduling call me outside of my hours. If it's something that I think will work to my advantage, I'll answer. I've had months where I flew 18 days and a few where I flew 10 days. I haven't flown 20 days yet. 90% of the time my trip appears in Flica the day or two before the event. My quality of life has actually be pretty good. I've been short called less than the number of fingers I have on one hand. Mostly is seems like a crapshoot, some get it worse than others, some have it really good. I'm sure if I dealt with this for 2 years, I'd probably be a little more bitter. As it is though, it's not nearly as bad as most make it out.

As for schedulers violating FARs, yes, you do need to know this stuff. But how long has it taken you to learn the rules? You expect hourly workers who are not among the highest paid to know the FARs inside out so as to make your like easier? Hardly. Just treat them like the working folk they are, that's what you expect.