8v8tr said:
Got the call from JB this eve. for an interview on the 12th of Jan in JFK. Looking for some insight to schedules to be expected, time on reserve, most junior base and upgrade times on the 190 vs bus. Also some work rules insight, how many days off to expect and commuteability of the lines. Just trying to be informed prior to the interview.
Thanks
Don't know much about reserve anymore since its been almost a year since I first got a line. However, I do know that seniority means nothing on a particular reserve day. Callout is 2 hours. Most junior base is JFK. You can get FLL or LGB soon after you start (was about 8 months for guys in my class, 1-2 months for some who started a year after me) but upgrade time will be longer if you stay in base.
Don't ever plan on upgrading in LGB unless you are 24 years old. There is very little chance that the base will grow unless the city lifts its restrictions of jet slots at the airport.
Time on reserve varies in the different domiciles. I spent almost 5 months on reserve last year. However, that was due more to the time of year I was hired (they increase the number of reserves during the holiday period) than anything. Expect to spend 2-5 months on reserve in JFK. Could be years in LGB depending on when the F/O's senior to you in base decide to upgrade.
For a newhire...expect about 13-14 months to upgrade on the E190. On the A320 I would expect time to upgrade is nearing three years. Right now we have about 1350 pilots. Number 745 was just awarded a February upgrade class. This person was probably hired about two years ago. Earlier this year time on reserve for a junior captain in JFK was about 1 year. That time will continue to increase. The way I figured it...I was hired when we had approximately 60 A320's. I would, more or less, be guaranteed a left seat on the Airbus when the company had 115-120 A320's. Then I looked at the delivery schedule, did the math and came up with a timeframe of when I could expect upgrade. By the end of this year I believe that we will have 85 A320's and 7 E190's. Our delivery schedule for next year calls for 19 of each airframe. Keep in mind that when you do the math for the E190 that JB has awarded upgrade to 143 Airbus F/O's (to E190 captain). The last of these should be trained by the end of September of '06. Then current E190 F/O's will be allowed to upgrade on the E190. In the fall of '07 it will be possible for current E190 captains to transition to the A320 left seat (after their two year seatlock is fulfilled). How many will actually go when they are released? Who knows. I am fairly certain I won't switch over until I can hold a line as an A320 captain. Reserve...ain't so fun!
Expect 12 days off on reserve (min. days off guarantee). For the A320, once you get a line you can expect about 14 days off, increasing as you gain seniority. Senior line holders usually get between 16-18 days off with some even getting 20.
For the E190...still get 12 days off guaranteed. Other than that I can't tell you much about the schedules. As the airplane gets more dependable we will probably see an increase of its utilization and therefore trips. I looked at the January lines and wasn't impressed. Looked like a lot of line holders were getting, say 77 hours with 13 days off. Again, as we get more of these airplanes and can better utilize the thing, the schedules will get better.
Commutability....Commuting to reserve is awful at any airline. However, crew sked. does try to work it out so that you can get a late show on day one and an early reserve period on the last day. Sometimes this doesn't work out as they won't use you until the second to the last day of your period. And then, due to rest requirements, you might get a reserve period of maybe 2pm to 11pm on your last day. They try to work with you, but sometimes it doesn't work out. Once you get a line it is fairly easy to trade/drop trips so that your trips can become commutable. It does, however, depend on where you live. If you have a two leg offline commute to El Paso then it might take longer (with higher seniority) to hold commutable trips. If you live in ROC or BUF you might not even need a crashpad once you can hold a line. Word of caution...JB's upstate cities (BUF, ROC, SYR and BTV) are becoming innundated with pilots and flight attendants commuting to/from work. The jumpseat is taken on a seniority basis, so you will need to give yourself plenty of backups to get to work.
If you live up in the northeast, my guess is that BOS will be announced as a new crew domicile early next year.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.
GP
