jetBlue Reserve

[Beechnut]

How are the short call reserve times determined at jetBlue?

Are they assigned daily?

Can you bid for certain predetermined times?

Can you request late starts or early starts? When are the times assigned? (Night before?)

Thanks,

S.

 

[Headfake14]

hmmm...good question. You don't know your times till about noon the day prior. I'm sure you could call and request a certain footprint. The assigning of short/long call also is done the day prior...no bidding on that either. But usually the first 2-3 days is long call and the latter short. But when the $hit is...or might hit the fan...or we're just short on reserves, then most of the long calls will be changed to short call.

 

[Stugatz78]

How do days off work when you're on reserve?

 

[zkmayo]

As for days off, on RSV min is 12. You bid just like a lineholder would but unless your senior enough to hold a line (or specifically bid rsv) your bid will result in a RSV line being built for you. One of the requests they try to honor to Reserve Line holders is requested days off. Virtually all RSV lines are 12 days off (there might be an occasional exception for 13) but I never had it. Alot of pilots then PTO(Paid time off) at least one day and UTO(unpaid time off) another if staffing levels are at a certain level. They now have 14 days off. The reasoning there is you still accrue 4.5 hrs of PTO since most RSVists accrue it at 9hr/mo and the UTO doesnt affect the premium pay on a rsv line (5 hours, 70 reg + 5 at premium) if you UTO just one day.

The long call/short call usu helps your QOL if your relatively senior on RSV and staffing levels are good and no wx issues. One friend has a east coast commute, #2 on RSV in his seat and had 20 days at home last month.

Others can prob explain it better.

 

[Whiskerbizkit]

Long call gives you 14hr call out and short call is 2hrs. Like said before, you can bid for certain days off depending on how senior you are. You can changes days off using FLICA without talking to anyone. Depending on which base you are in you can fly alot or not at all. When I was in JFK I flew every day with 10-20hr of premium pay a month, now I dont fly, day 4 for me today and havn't flown yet but I home.

 

[Headfake14]

I haven't flown in over two weeks. I'd rather fly...I'm getting fat and bored in the pad. My 3 LCRs were turned to SCRs this week...6 days on my a$$.

 

[Counselair]

I haven't flown in over two weeks. I'd rather fly...I'm getting fat and bored in the pad. My 3 LCRs were turned to SCRs this week...6 days on my a$$.

Ditto...

-Counselair

 

[Airbus_Driver]

I just left JB in March and worked as a Reserve for a year. I never flew that much either. One thing I never understood was that JB never let me bid more than 6 days on. Now that I am back with the legacy I left, I can bid as many Reserve days as I wish and put my time off in large blocks. I think most commuters would prefer this. Any reasons why JB willl not allow this?

 

[IronCityBlue]

I just left JB in March and worked as a Reserve for a year. I never flew that much either. One thing I never understood was that JB never let me bid more than 6 days on. Now that I am back with the legacy I left, I can bid as many Reserve days as I wish and put my time off in large blocks. I think most commuters would prefer this. Any reasons why JB willl not allow this?

The 1 in 7 rule. Reserve is duty, even if you don't fly. Not sure what kind of reserve you have, maybe its some version of long call with right to refuse trips, etc, so you can manipulate one off in seven while at home, I don't know. But 7 reserve days in a row the way we do it here would be illegal.

 

[Airbus_Driver]

I understand the 7 and 1 rule. I am on a domestic only aircraft (DC9) and I am currently on a 9 day stretch of Reserve days. As long as I have 24 hrs of rest in any 7 day period (whether at home or in the hotel) its legal. So I bid the maximum number of days I can and block my 11 days off as close as I can. It makes for some good quality of life issues if your a commuter. The scheduling committee should look into it.

 

[IronCityBlue]

I understand the 7 and 1 rule. I am on a domestic only aircraft (DC9) and I am currently on a 9 day stretch of Reserve days. As long as I have 24 hrs of rest in any 7 day period (whether at home or in the hotel) its legal. So I bid the maximum number of days I can and block my 11 days off as close as I can. It makes for some good quality of life issues if your a commuter. The scheduling committee should look into it.

I see what you're saying, but I'd be surprised if that happened here. Not to mention if it did, then scheduling could (read: would) just start extending reserves (junior man or whatever) 10 or 11 days and while some may want that I'd wager most would self release/sicka in a hurry if the company assigned them short call reserve for two weeks at a time.

With even telephone availability being considered duty, to schedule you for 24 hours off they would basically not be available for anything at least 30 hours at a stretch once per week, since they couldn't do anything with you that close to a mandatory 24 hour period off. So to answer your question, I don't see them doing that because they would have to give you, in effect, more days off (days of unavailability) while still giving you the minimum days off you already get. Increase cost of hiring more people to cover the same ammount of flying, multiplied by 2 fleet types and 4 bases.

Are your 11 days of rsv all long call, short call or a combo of both?

 

[Airbus_Driver]

With NWA reducing Reserve days off to 11 as part of the concessionary agreement, I wouldn't doubt it was ALPA's intention to create a day off by allowing bidding of an excess of 6 days of Reserve. But I can only create this on the initial bid.

Once the schedules are out, I cannot add any Reserve day that would increase the 6 day rule. Wasn't given a reason why. Nor could I find anything in the contract about it. As far as long-call, short-call, we do have that but I live in base and don't really concern myself with it. But I believe long-call is a 10 hr heads up assignment. I miss Flica as NWA's system is a relic and not nearly as user friendly as JB.

NWA has always run very lean staffing throughout its history. Scheduling told me NWA has added 100 additional flights in June on the DC9 with the same staffing as in May. They would not give me the number but they said a "significant" number of flights were canceled due to lack of crews. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. I have been told by my colleagues that this happened in the mid 90's during the last concessions.

I have been flying around 85 hrs a month on Reserve which is historic by NWA standards. I am choosing to stay on Reserve as I have more seniority so that I can have better control of my days off. I am flying the same as a block holder anyway.

 

[pilotgolfer]

The 1 in 7 rule. Reserve is duty, even if you don't fly. Not sure what kind of reserve you have, maybe its some version of long call with right to refuse trips, etc, so you can manipulate one off in seven while at home, I don't know. But 7 reserve days in a row the way we do it here would be illegal.

I haven't sat reserve since this new system started...but I was wondering how they get away with saying that you have to be contactable 24 hours a day by phone (for long-call reserve). Where is your 8 hour rest period? If I have to answer my phone, then I'm on duty. The way I read the new policy...you are on duty 24 hours. Did I mis-read it?

Scott

 

[nfg]

I haven't sat reserve since this new system started...but I was wondering how they get away with saying that you have to be contactable 24 hours a day by phone (for long-call reserve). Where is your 8 hour rest period? If I have to answer my phone, then I'm on duty. The way I read the new policy...you are on duty 24 hours. Did I mis-read it?

Scott

As soon as you answer the phone and get your assignment you go on rest and then have 14 hours to show up for your trip.

 

[pilotgolfer]

As soon as you answer the phone and get your assignment you go on rest and then have 14 hours to show up for your trip.

I understand what your saying...BUT

Lets say you start reserve on Monday at 4am and you don't hear from crew services until Tuesday morning at say 8am. Were you on duty for the last 28 hours? Do you get released at some point for your rest period? Does that time you were not called considered a 24 in 7?

Just asking the question...not sure if it was addressed in that fine "scheduling guide of the month".

 

[Vastly Underemp]

Ahhhhh, Scottish, the devil is in the details.....

The long-call deal is signed off by the feds because you are not expected to do anything but answer your phone; you can be drunk as a monkee, or in the middle of rebuilding a Chevy transmission because they (the company) then have to give you appropriate rest before you come to work. The FAA does not consider answering your phone "duty" as such, unlike short call when they expect you to immediately leave for work when the call comes in and therefore do not have the opportunity to start the rest clock and subsequently the duty clock. Remember, the rule governing short call duty time requires you to look back when your duty period is completed and find 8 contiguous hours of rest in the previous 24. The feds decided that answering your phone isn't considered duty because you are not constrained from "normal" activities AND the company gives you fresh rest before the beginning of your assignment. This all came about after the SUPER-80 American accident in Little Rock.

"Currency??? We don't need no stinking currency!!"

 

[pilotgolfer]

Tim,

Like I said, I'm not currently sitting reserve and I think this is a slight improvement to what was previously in place. But I think they did a half-ass job of it. If they wanted to do it correctly and legally...they would have to designate a time period where you were obligated to answer your phone.

This won't get done properly because its enough of an improvement that the Reserve A320 Captains won't make waves about it and the FOs on reserve will let it pass because they only have to wait it out a little longer to hold a line.

The company looks like they are throwing a bone to the pilots and letting them sit at home a day or two extra. But it does nothing to alleviate the fact that the airline is understaffed (in my opinion and from my limited experience at this particular airline).

I'm more than likely wrong about this...it wouldn't be the first time.

Scott

 

[Vastly Underemp]

What, not enough time for golfing?

It's a carrot. I'm sure it's a great benefit for those that are commuting, but if scheduling can suddenly turn long call into short call it's not that much of a benefit. I'd prefer to see a monthly bid position of shortcall and long call, the short guys getting 14 days off and the long guys getting 12 days off. That way there's no converting short to long, and the short guys get a little bonus for being a tether.

But what do I know, I'm just a junior puke on reserve....at home