Cal reserve pilots!

[a10hogplt]

Ok guys, i start training in december and wanted to ask the new cal pilots their opinion. I live about an hour and 50 minutes south on newark. Obviously i will want ewr as my base. Can i stay at home when on reserve or not? Will i get 2 hour call outs? This will have to do with what airplane i fly as well, meaning getting the 73 will mean shorter reserve than 75/6. What do you guys think?

 

[geshields]

Ok guys, i start training in december and wanted to ask the new cal pilots their opinion. I live about an hour and 50 minutes south on newark. Obviously i will want ewr as my base. Can i stay at home when on reserve or not? Will i get 2 hour call outs? This will have to do with what airplane i fly as well, meaning getting the 73 will mean shorter reserve than 75/6. What do you guys think?

Our "B" reserve is 3 hours to a push meaning 2 hours to get to the airport.....

HTH,
Greg

btw, welcome aboard!

 

[CAL EWR B737]

Congratulations and Welcome To Continental!

"A" Reserves have a 9 hour call out and are limited to a Max of 25% of total reserves - Reserve Guarantee 72 hours

"B" Reserves 2 hour call out and 76 hour guarantee.

Things are moving quickly and you should be a senior reserve a few months after IOE.

Even on "B" reserve 1:50 is doable but you have to live with your uniform in your car. Short calls are fairly rare but you never know.

B737 is taking about three to four months to line holder in EWR
B756 will be closer to a year in EWR

Will have no problem getting EWR

 

[a10hogplt]

thanks for the info.......so how long do you think it would be until i could hold long call out reserve on the 73 compared to the 75/76?

 

[acbarney]

I live 102 miles southwest of Newark. I started indoc in June. I'm on the 756 out of Newark and have been able to get my first or second choice of long call reserve every month since I finished IOE. Long call (A) seems to go junior on the 756. The system seems to work such that A guys get called first for any open time the day before. I get used 95% of the time but I've only been "called" off a reserve day and given 9 hours to get to Newark once. The B guys seem to be flying less but I don't know how often they get short called.

A reserve works great for me, since it's about 1 1/2 hours to the parking lot for me, and you must allow an additional 1/2 hour to get from the employee lot to the gate, and I don't want to live in my uniform.

Have fun in Houston!

 

[propjob27]

Our "B" reserve is 3 hours to a push meaning 2 hours to get to the airport.....

Techically this is correct. CAL short call reserve is not a "two hour to show" callout. It is a "3 hour to push" callout.

In other words, yes, it is standard to have a show time one hour prior to depature in EWR, ie show at 0800 for an 0900 push. HOWEVER, let's be honest, is anyone going to know if you were not in the terminal exactly an hour prior to push? No way. You can show at 8:20 or so an 0900 push, and still have time to run to the weather room, sign the release, and then walk down the jetway to the aircraft and leave on time. And no one's the wiser.

Our manual states that for narrow body domestic flights, the crew should plan to be on board (meaning in your seat, walkaround complete) the aircraft :20 minutes prior to push.

 

[Mr Hat]

I'm an ExpressJet guy who lives about 45 minutes west of EWR....I was on reserve for a little over 3 years and never missed a short call. The key for me was to be ready to leave during during rush hour because you may need the full 2 hours (maybe 2:15, 2 to show 1 to go so it's 2 1/2 really because you have to be on the airplane 1/2 hour prior to push). Also bidding is important, I typically bid the early early shift...this way if they called me I got in before traffic hit. I missed a trip once because there was a fatal accident on 80 and I got stuck literally on an on ramp for 2 hours, the CPO made sure it did not count against me. Your contract says 2 hours "under normal driving conditions". You should have no problem with a 50 minute drive. Besides, only millionairs can live any closer to EWR unless you want to ghetto it.

 

[kaisersose]

I have been on reserve a total of a couple years over the past 8. Short calls are very rare. Sounds like your life would be best served by bidding the 73 because you will get a line quicker and put an end to the uniform in the car thing. Also, getting your butt in the seat 20min prior is not a problem if you drive into the lot at show time in the 73. In the 756 you would have to hope the trip you got doesn't involve drawing all the circles on the chart (etops). You can check on the computer to see what the order is for call out as well. It is not rock solid because you can't always tell what the other guys legality issues are but it helps you sleep at night if you see that you are number 10 for a 4day.

Welcome and have fun in the box.

PS bring some warm clothes. The whole building seems like it is about 50 degrees.

 

[a10hogplt]

Thanks for all the info. Kaiser......would you be able to tell me how long until i could get the long reserve on the 737 vs. 756? Long reserve would be great for me where i am, just wondering how hard it is to get that in the 73 and 756. thanks!!

 

[Airmike767]

Hi,
I'm currently on Reserve on the B756 in Houston. You'll be surprised how easy it is once you get into the system. I would reccomend that you bid the B756 in EWR for a couple of reasons. The biggy is pay, after the first year its:$71.64 widebody B767 for example or 62.13 for the B757. You can get into the mid range on the B737-800 or -900 but alot harder. Reserve flying is at the blended rate so you would blend up to the B756 as well.

My second reason is that the flying from EWR on the B756 is mostly trans Atlantic. Mostly three day trips with good layovers at 24 hours average. These all have an afternoon show.

One other thing to think about is Guam.........if you go to Guam and agree to stay 18 months they will start you at second year pay! Blended B737 but alot nicer than $29.97.

Heed the advice about the chilly air in the training building avg 65F or so.......

You will also get a signon for the CCS system (Crew Scheduling Computer) and can access the CBTs whereever you have a laptop and an online connection.

Hope you enjoy yourself!

Fred

​

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$54.74​

 

[a10hogplt]

all great info, thanks! i guess its a tough decision....my house is just under 2 hours away, so it seems as if the shorter i stay on reserve the better. I dont know, maybe i'll figure some more stuff out when i get to training in a couple weeks! Cant wait!

 

[Airmike767]

The current reserve system allows you to aggressively pickup a trip available the next day. You will be able toenter the trading screen and pickup without a call to scheduling and then are "released" from any reserve accountability the next day prior to the trip. I think you would have no trouble picking up a trip at the start of any given group of reserve days and you will be able to look at the list of availble pilots and their available times and make a judgement call as to whether or not you will be in the hotseat for a short call.

If that were the case you could always take a drive into the office and hang around..........such as just before a big snowstorm or line of thunder storms...

all in all lots more short calls on the B737 fleet!!

Fred

 

[CAL EWR B737]

all great info, thanks! i guess its a tough decision....my house is just under 2 hours away, so it seems as if the shorter i stay on reserve the better. I dont know, maybe i'll figure some more stuff out when i get to training in a couple weeks! Cant wait!

Some good points on here by all but here is my two cents. We have 4500 pilots and probably 4500 different opinions so here is mine for what it's worth.

If you bid the 756 you will be frozen for two years and only able to bid 777FO or B737 CA to get out of your freeze. If you bid the 737 and decided you wanted off most likely you would be able to bid 757 on the next system bid in three to six months. Yes, you would have to go to training but it's only one month and gives you some options.

As far as pay I make significantly more as a relatively junior line holder on the 737 CA than I would as a junior reserve 756 CA. Same pay principal applies to FO's. Quality of life in my opinion far superior than being stuck on reserve, did that for many years and really don't like reserve. I typically hold a line with 13 - 14 days off and trip trade for 15 to 17 days off and more pay than the awarded line.

If hiring continues as planned and age 60 remains unchanged you will probably be on reserve on the 737 in EWR for three to four months. 756 ninth months to a year is my guess. Bottom lines on the EWR B756 aren't too good low time three day trips and redeye's to South America and a lot of DH at 50% pay and IRO flying. Another consideration what happens if the music stops (no more hiring) where do you want to be a junior line holder on the B737 or reserve on the B756? Your decision just wanted to give you another view.

 

[kaisersose]

I must admit that I am not too familiar with the A/B system. I was just thinking in terms of getting to the airport and being ready to go from where you live. There are many good reasons to bid 73 and 756. I know that on the 73 after you're on the line for a while it is very comfortable to walk on to the plane with 20-30 min to push. I have not been on the 756 but see the guys in the wx room doing plotting for a good 10-15 minutes. Either way it is a nice choice to have to make and don't think you'll run into many problems either way.

kaiser

 

[Airmike767]

All very good information especially on the freeze! Best try the B737 and bid A reserve......
Fred

 

[Boeingman]

All good points but I think CAL EWR 737 summed it up best. You do NOT want to be junior on the 757 especially in Newark. The bottom line is your quality of life. Once the euphoria wears off I guarantee you will be happier holding a more senior position on a different (smaller) airplane.

Did I already mention that quality of life is your first priority?

BTW welcome aboard.

 

[a10hogplt]

cal ewr, thank you for taking your time and giving me your opinion, greatly appreciated. I have a feeling that since i'm only 30, i will most likely be in the 73 anyway, but great points you have made. It looks like the 73 might be the way to go until i would be able to hold either long reserve call out on the 756 or a line.

With that said, how do you qualify for the 9 hour call out when on reserve? If your saying i could hold a line after 3 or 4 months after ioe, do you think i could get the long call out right out of ioe? How does that work!

Thanks guys! I'm not an airline guy in my previous life so this is a quick learning curve for me.

 

[Boeingman]

Hog: I haven't paid any attention to the reserve issues, but I believe the 25% of the lines are awarded as long show by seniority. However I have heard that a lot of guys are being switched to the B reserve after the fact. There are caveats to this but I am sure you will get better answers from guys actually dealing with reserve under the new contract.

My point is, do not bank on the long call reserve on any decisions on what you fly. You should be fine at 1:50 from Newark. Like one of the others said be ready with the bags packed and uniform in the car in case you get short called (which happens much more on the 737 than other aircraft).

 

[bearcat]

The long callout isn't as good as a deal as it sounds. A reserve (9 Hour) is called first before any Breserve. Bman is spot on that the A reserve are being switched to B reserve. Also 75 is a ton of DH to return as IRO. I think you can sum it up best that 737 is going to be a better QOL. Rumor has it that the lines are easier to commute at IAH -VS- EWR. Cannot confirm this. (I'm still in training.) Are you in the guard? If so PM me.

 

[psysicx]

If your on reserve is it possible to ask to be put on top of the calling list so you will fly?